I second Desert Captain; I too am amazed how few rattlers people have seen who spend any time in the desert. I long ago lost all count of how many I’ve seen and I’ve shot a lot of them. And I don’t do that for sport, only if I think they’re in striking distance and a threat.
But my situation was somewhat unique, part of my job many years ago was developing maps and often that required surveying the country first. The old days, a chain and transit and you went in a straight line through brush or any other passable objects. Just the thing I advise people to avoid doing to avoid snakes. By far, most of the incidents I had with snakes were when I was working.
I recall stepping on one’s tail once but he wasn’t coiled, he was trying to get away and needless to say I got off his tail pretty quickly. The closest call I had was with a sidewinder who parked himself right next to an instrument I had put on the ground momentarily. I bent down and reached for it and there he was all coiled up and waiting. I saw him just in time and shot him just on general principles for not buzzing and warning me. And it’s true that rattlers do not always buzz, he wasn’t the first or the last.
I agree with Desert Captain that people are likely just not seeing snakes that are there. I still see them, even on trails in city mountain parks. But I think my senses are so highly tuned to watching for them from the old working days that I see things others may walk right by.
So, you shoot rattlesnakes when you are in striking distance - so if you're standing within a foot or two of a snake, your first instinct isn't to just take one step the other direction, but to pull out a gun and shoot it? Even if the disregard for wildlife weren't an issue, that wouldn't be the fastest way to resolve the situation. They don't chase, or jump through the air, or any of that TV stuff, as you well know from seeing so many of them.
A sidewinder is 2', tops, and that's a monster winder. You'd have to be standing on top of it with flip flops, or grabbing it. They don't always warn because of a few reasons, one of which is that that's actually the third tier of predator evasion tactics they use. The first are to hold still and hope nothing sees them; the second is to flee.
