Thanks Kurt. I totally understand your feelings on rattlesnakes. I’ve got a bunch of rattlesnake stories. When I peed behind that juniper tree I was leaving my scent there. I was marking my territory. There were only two trees on the property; that juniper tree and the box elder tree. I never peed by the box elder tree and I probably should have.

By the way, a dog once saved me from a rattler. It was an Aussie Shepard. She saw the rattler before I did. Actually, I never saw it until the dog rushed ahead of me and killed the rattler. Most dogs would just bark from a safe distance. And yes, that rattler was hiding below a juniper tree. I had heard some old-timers say that rattlers prefer to hide under juniper trees more than pinon trees. I think junipers attract more birdies — except during pinon nut harvest time.