df61743 wrote:
Thanks for the kind comments.
A rule of thumb I go by is that snakes generally cannot strike further than 1/3 to 1/2 of it's own length when striking from a coiled position. That snake was about four feet long, so I feel pretty safe being five feet from it. The focal length on those shots was 55mm 35mm-equivalent.
Dick
Nice shots! Some decades ago I worked at a state park in southern Missouri and captured (not on film, unfortunately) a pigmy rattle snake, very beautiful and only about 12 or so" long. I brought it to the park naturalist, who gave that striking distance comment you make and put a finger about 8" from the critter (now in a cage and very pissed off). He felt the air move, the strike was so close, and allowed that an angry, small snake might have just a bit more striking distance...