TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Just because you invite a rattlesnake to enjoy the warmth of your living room, that doesn't mean it won't try to bite you, especially if it's a big, tough western diamondback as pugnacious as one nicknamed "Samson."

"When we were trying to catch him, we were calling him Goliath, Samson, King Kong; we had all kinds of names, anything big and strong," said Tim Fitzer, a lifelong snake hunter and former cast member of the Discovery Channel show "Venom Hunters."

Hunting with William Towry and son Silas, 12, of Coweta on his first-ever snake hunt, and Brandon Dorris of Haskell i...