Someone asked me about this and I had read it somewhere but was sure it was just a new "wive's tale".

Rattlesnakes now rarely rattle to warn due to hogs targeting them based off of sound. Seems quite unlikely to me but you never know.

"Wive's tale"

spam, i didn't write that...

Never heard this one myself, but a quick google search shows that most of the articles on the subject are pretty skeptical that snakes are rattling less. Never hurts to invest in some good snake gaiters, though. Especially if you'll be walking through tall grass.

I wouldn't dout it one bit... animals learn to change their ways when an invasive species off sets the balance ...

I'm not sure if it's true or not but I can say the last two rattle snakes I walked up on didn't rattle at all until I made them by throwing sticks at them??

Be hard to test the theory, but I have encountered plenty of snakes that didn't rattle until harassed. We don't have hogs.

run around your land in shorts and flip flops!

Were they diamondbacks or timber rattlers?

Maybe they were Western DiamondDrones. imported by the democrats and sponsored by the NSA

sorry, i couldn't help myself...

There is the urban legend that rattlesnakes no longer rattle to warn away animals because the ones that did that were getting eaten by hogs - hence natural selection - and poof, we are left with a population of rattlesnakes not prone to rattling. This was all very BOGUS, of course, but it is one of the myths that has come about with the lore of the hog. Rattlesnakes don't always rattle or give warning. That is the way it has always been.

Here is one version that says rattlesnakes don't rattle anymore because of humans...
http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/snakes/a/Rattlesnakes-Not-Rattling.htm

Hogs:
http://www.aranchersview.com/2011/11/are-feral-hogs-stopping-rattlesnakes.html

for this to happen..."revolution" which doesn't happen in 10-20yrs

I heard the same thing more than once and may have been guilty of repeating it.

I do know that since the fireants and feral hogs came around, I don't have any bobwhites and haven't seen a rattler in some time around here.
Both were thick once upon a time...maybe the fireants are eating the baby rattlers as well...

We have lots of hogs around here, but also have lots of snakes. The property next door is a bit more rocky and load with rattlesnakes according to the fellow that hog hunts there.

I wouldn't know because you still have not invited me to come shoot some...

I have some gullies that have lots of big yellow rocks and are full of dillo holes.
The rattlers used to be thick there.
My Uncle used to come by the "snake den" once a year and harvest a sack full of snakes to sell.
He's been dead for 15 years or more so there hasn't been any hunting pressure there but I haven't seen a snake there in many, many years.

They were both diamondbacks both up on the texas oklahoma boarder on the red river. I'm 48 now and when I was a young kid and walked up on them they seem to always rattle but not anymore?