When Beaupre sees a rattler, however, he traps it, anesthetizes it and inserts a fingernail-sized radio transmitter into its body under the skin. Then he releases the snake back into the wild, and spends the summer tracking its movement and studying its physiology and behavior at sites in Arkansas, Texas and Arizona. Rattlesnakes normally blend into the forest floor, using the leaf cover as camouflage. They can remain immobile in the same spot for days, waiting for prey, Beaupre said. Most people who spend time in the woods have probably stepped right over rattlesnakes without realizing it, he said.
Rattlesnakes tend to hunker down and avoid human contact.
But by mid-July, male rattlesnakes are on the move, looking for mates. They will cross roads and may travel for miles in hopes of finding a female. As a result of their amorous preoccupation, many rattlesnakes end up flattened on highways. And others get shot or hacked to death by people who fear their bites. Nationwide about 7,000 people get treated for snake bites each year, and about 5-10 people die annually from poisonous snake bites.