How to survive a rattlesnake bite — or better yet, avoid one

(CNN) — Talk about a heavenly day: The Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, temperatures in the low 70s and low humidity.

Scott Vuncannon, a 58-year-old real estate developer and farmer, called his wife and said he was going hiking and would be back around 4 p.m.

He packed his safety gear, including a pistol, bear spay and enough food and water to last a couple of days, just in case.

He grew up traversing the Uwharrie Mountains in central North Carolina. Now he was taking on more formidable wilderness from his summer home in Highlands, a popular resort town. Still, he had decades of hiking experience.

Two hours later, he was five miles in.

“My dog took off chasing a squirrel, and I stopped and took a sip of water,” Vuncannon recalled to CNN Travel. “I called my dog … and he came headed back over. And as soon as I took a step, I saw movement.”

With no warning, “I saw a snake head come up and strike me in my left calf. … My natural reaction was to jump back, and I bent over and pulled up my pant leg to see if he actually penetrated my long pants.”

Vuncannon saw two bite marks about 2 inches apart. Boone went after the snake, and only then did Vuncannon hear rattling.

He tied on a tourniquet below the knee and above the bite. “As soon as I stood up, I could actually taste the poison in the back of my throat.”

His vision got blurry, and he sweated a lot. “I pulled my phone my out and called 911, and of course, it said no cell service.”

“That’s when my heart sank.”

With no phone service, no human companions and the venom spreading rapidly, how would he survive?

How dangerous are rattlesnakes to us?

But for their range, US deaths from rattlesnake bites and other venomous snakes are quite rare.

“The number of deaths would be much higher if people did not seek medical care,” the CDC says.

The pit viper family

Rattlesnakes are part of the pit viper family of venomous snakes….