Venomous snake bites in the wild. Help!

Call a local Herpetologist; they can tell you how you can go through injections that will lessen the degree of your reaction to the venom. It may cost you but in the long run you can build an immunity.

You can also get a dog and train them to be alert to rattlers, down south in Texas I believe they have classes.

Most hits from a Rattlesnake, when disturbed and not due to actually hunting, are called shallow strikes. The snake is not actually trying to put venom into you but rather defending itself over the disturbance. The amount of venom will likely cause you to hurt and could go septic if not treated but you will not die or lose a limb if you can get to a ranger station or a clinic. Seek out the local clinics and inquire who keep anti-venom.

Other than that killing a rattler is totally uncalled for unless it is 10ft and can call you by your name! Seriously, a snake does not want to eat you or kill you, it simply wants you to leave it the heck alone; and, people generally smell like chemicals and detergents and we are the last thing they really want to encounter. Most strikes are completely random and without cause, because the encounter was sudden and unexpected; most strike and then rattle (contrary to what we are taught).

It is wise to get a walking stick and learn to put it out in front of you as you walk, sending vibrations down the path as you walk and peg the stick against the ground.

A snakes food is far more dangerous to humans; rats and mice carry virus's and diseases!

The real factor is you, will you panic and cause your heart to race out of your chest, or, are you the kind of person that can calm yourself and relax.

Good Luck! Now stop killing snakes please, haven't we hurt the environment enough? Unless of course you're hungry, then that is a different story.