inexpensive improvised rattlesnake and zombie killing weapon.

[Deltaboy1984]

bush-ax or kaiser blade or whatever you want to call it. Can usually get em at the local hardware store or lowes or home depot and they work great for clearing brush and killing snakes.

They are great for brush clearing also.

 

[jrdolall]

I wouldn't worry all that much about the rattlers I can see as they aren't that agile and aren't that hard to kill. A stick, rock, shovel, hoe, .410, snake shot, 50 cal and a lot of other things are fine for shooting snakes. .22 snake shot will work fine and you can easily get within 5 feet of a lounging rattler.
Either way you are eventually going to have to find where they are nesting and wipe them out because once they are successful in breeding they will make lots of baby snakes that you don't see so easily and that little one footer will make you have a very bad day.
Rattlers in any numbers hanging around the house are a bad deal and I am not the least bit afraid of snakes. I have no problem catching a rattler and have done so many times using a stick. I don't make it a habit and I carry snake shot for my truck 9mm everywhere I go.

 

[alaskanativeson]

I second the idea of an ice chopper. There are several sizes and styles available.

 

[b.thomas]

An old Texan I use to know would swear by a garden hoe, especially one with a razor sharp edge that his mom used to kill the critters in her garden.
He said good old mom could take the head off a diamond back with one whack of the garden tool.