Dude in Alabama hit this rattler with a switch (stick to you Yankees) and killed it. Country boy can survive. 15 rattles so about that old in years. Said he had a gun but when it showed its head he was too shaky to fire, so he cut the switch quick and nailed that sucker, then shot it in the head for good measure. Drove it home in his truck bed, danged thing moved while dead when he got home.
Case any tenderfoots out there don't know it, do not handle a dead rattler. They can still bite and inject you while dead. No lie.
Oh yeah - 5 foot 8 inches.
UNDER EDIT: Wild. Plowboy just posted a rattler above and I did not even know it when I made this post. LOL.