Death from snake bite

There are 17 different species or subspecies of the rattlesnakes in Arizona. There were 202 rattlesnake bites reported to the poison control center at the University of Arizona which serves all of Arizona, except Maricopa County during 2006. However, 50 to 70% of all snake bites reported were provoked by the person who was bitten. From 2002 to 2007, Arizona had about one snakebite fatality a year. For comparison, lightning killed 17 people in Arizona from 1990 to 2003, so you are in slightly more danger dying from lightning than from snake bite.

But to get a handle on reality, in 2007 alone, Arizona had 1,066 traffic fatalities. You are, at least, a thousand times more likely to die in a traffic accident than you are to get bitten by a rattler. In 2004, there were 9,710 deaths from cancer.

One morning, we were camping on Lake Powell, not strictly in Arizona, but the same kind of area, I got up early and walked up to a small hill outside of camp. As I looked back at the camp, with all of the campers in a pile of sleeping bags and equipment, I suddenly noticed a rattlesnake coiled up just out of the camp circle. Then I noticed another, within a few seconds I had spotted about twenty rattlesnakes coiled in early morning coolness, in a complete circle around the camp.

Before and since I have seen hundreds of rattlesnakes. My first one was just under the top of the Mogollon Rim above Boy Scout Camp Geronimo when I was about 13 years old. The last one I saw was next to the Salt River at Coons Bluff. Like the old saying goes, if you don't bother them, they won't bother you. The best defense against snake bite is vigilance, look where you step and look where you reach.