did you catch it and eat it? I ate one once, and as cliche as this sounds but they taste like dark meat chicken with a bit more oil to it.
I use to live up in the Mojave Desert area not far from Lake Castaic, and as I'm pedaling up mountain roads they would be out sunny themselves so I had to go around them as not to get bit, some were dead from being ran over by cars, but coming down was more interesting. As I would come down I would be doing over 40 mph and couldn't just weave around them, so I ran them over! I don't think that killed them but they didn't like it much either, but I was going to fast for them to strike, so as I hit them they would get pissed and rattle their tails. It's not like they're hundreds of thousands out on the road, but on a 50 mile one way mountain trip I would probably see around a dozen of them, and about 1/2 of those were dead, and 1/2 of the remainder were trying to leave the ensuing violence from cars, so I think in the 14 years I lived up in that area I think I ran over maybe a dozen of them.
The first time I saw one I pulled my feet out of the pedals fast thinking they could strike my feet or ankles, then that's when I found out I was going to fast for them.
I once got to see a Roadrunner kill a rattlesnake, that was cool! pound for pound the best fighter on the desert floor that can punch way above its weight class.
Goatheads gave me more grief than rattlesnakes did!