Funny, you guys have western diamond backs there, we've got their eastern brothers out here! I've been in the company of both, fortunately they weren't coiled and ready to strike.
We've taught our girls to pay attention and respect any snakes they encounter as we've got alot of them around the neighborhood--we're on the edge of Air Force reservation and we get a lot of critters in the neighborhood.
So far we've had a large oak snake--good for eating mice and rats and not a threat; black racers, they can be aggressive but good for eating other critters; eastern diamondbacks, give them room or they'll ruin your day; scarlet king snake, harmless; garter snakes and just recently a long rough green snake that fell out of the tree at our campsite, I was drinking a beer and thought it was about the funniest thing I'd ever seen.
We've never felt the need to kill them, even the huge eastern diamondbacks we've found next door and up the street, we've got some neighbors that will take them for us and either relocate or donate to local home for animals.
