Von Behren, Julie 1989 Journal Hastings Reservation, Monterey Co., Ca. June 20 other californicus in these extra traps. At around 6700 6715h I went to the BC drift fence traps, finishing up around 0845h. I went to the barn next and checked all the cages. I took the 3 smears and went to the lab to look at the slides. From around 1100-1200h I worked on entering computer data. I also spent about 2-3 hours in the afternoon working on the computer. At 0515h I went to the barn to check on all the mice. I was looking in one of the cages when I heard a noise about 10 yards away in the northwest corner of the barn. I looked up to see a rattle sticking up. The rattler only rattle briefly once, then I held it and looked up. It moved away from me by a meter or so, but then stopped. I left the barn fairly quickly, without pursuing the snake. I left to set the BC drift fences. I set the east wall first. Curled up by trap station #79 (2), on the "out" side of the fence, was the second rattlesnake snake of the day. I didn't see it until I reached down to grab a the trap. The snake was about a foot from my hand. I dropped the trap like it was a hot coal and ran 10 feet away across the creek.