Back in the late 1950’s, I was taken on a Javilina hunting trip with my father. We were to hunt the area in and around Tortilla Flats, Arizona. It was late spring for Arizona, and it had snapped cold after a week of unusual heat. We were in a hurry to get to the hunting area on opening day before the sun came up. I can remember riding in my Dad’s 1958 Chevy half-ton pickup truck twisting through the turns and corners leading to Canyon Lake. We flew past the bridges and soon passed the Tortilla Flats Post Office. We were in the vicinity of Mesquite Flats when the incident happened.
We took a corner fairly fast and as we straightened out, there was what I thought was a fire hose stretched across both lanes of the road. I thought it was peculiar the hose had a diamond pattern on the top, and it looked to be 6 to 8 inches in diameter. I remember the thuds it made when we ran over it with the tires. The impact actually caused me to get some air time from the seat.
The truck came to a screeching halt, my father grabbed his rifle and stumbled out of the truck. “Stay in the truck!” He ordered as he slammed the door. He was gone for nearly a half an hour. Finally, he returned and stated he did not understand how something could take a hit from all four wheels of his truck and crawl off like nothing had happened. The snake had vanished into the rocks and bushes of the desert. Since then I have always wondered how big a rattlesnake could become.
On 26 October, 2008; Lowell Burns of Globe, Arizona killed an eight foot ten inch Western Diamond-Back rattlesnake near Sabino Basin where he was doing some camping. The snake was preserved and donated to Arizona State University for study. It was promptly declared a record breaker for rattlesnakes.
So far the eight foot ten inch rattlesnake is the record, but with all its amazing glory it still only covers one lane of a two-way highway.
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