Prepare for a rough night. Take comfort that the statistics of survival favor you.

It is worth noting that snakebites in the back country are pretty rare. I did SAR for a number of years in Tucson, AZ, which is near a lot of rattlesnakes. I asked one of our senior members how many of our operations had involved snakebites. Answer - none for over 500 operations over a period of 25 years.

People had been bitten by snakes. A local doctor gave a presentation to us summarizing his experience in treating bites. There were tow groups at risk - young kids playing around the house, and males in the 17-25 year category who were intentionally messing with the snake.

Remember that a snake will avoid you if at all possible. They don't like us anymore than we like them