Whew...thanks for the "heads-up(or down").  A friend has a ranch near College Station and has said he's seen more snakes this year than ever before.  His son got hit by a copperhead just under the the front porch.  So hot and dry this year they're looking for water and shade.... 

In the 5 years that I have owned this property, this year has been the most active as far as snakes go. Many say that the hogs keep them in check, and I have a tendency to agree. There isn't much those hogs won't eat. I have seen many bull snakes which are harmless, but do resemble a rattler. Bulls will blow through their mouth trying to imitate a rattlers buzz when cornered.

well, its just as bad up here, i have never killed so many as i have this year. up here in the panhandle we call them coontails but i have always been told that they were diamondbacks.

I believe the markings on the tail right before the rattler is common to all rattlers. I have seen it on timber rattlers in East Texas, and of course on diamond backs. When I worked the oil patch around Big Spring, I saw some hog nose rattlers, and you talk about strange looking which also had the "coon tail" markings on them. But we need to be careful, some of these snakes are iin the endangered list and a hefty fine will be met if a game warden finds with you just a skin of one. Use your own judgement when you meet up with some of these.

Sorry shasto, but that is just a small western diamondback.  Contrary to what you said above, the black and white markings are NOT common to all rattlesnakes but are in fact pretty diagnostic to the western diamondback.  See Alan Tennant's "Field Guide to the Snakes of Texas or  go to The Herps of Texas at

http://www.zo.utexas.edu/research/txherps/snakes/

The pattern on the Massasauga is quite different from a diamondback.  For one thing, unlike the diamondback, the blotches on the Massasauga do not overlap each other