"I pinned the snake so it couldn't bite me, by accident of course, but it was thrashing around to get free, thumping on my lower leg and all."

That's nuts man. I had a similar experience with a scorpion once but that's way less intense.

Haha I was never much of a hunter but I have done a lot of the shooting out in the desert and I have almost stepped on a few rattle snakes out there. The first time I was 12 or 13 and I was so shaken that I took five or six shots at it from about three feet away and I missed them all lol. It never had one try to strike at me but I do my best to avoid them in the desert and it is pretty rare to see one deep in the city. I don't know how aggressive they compared to other snakes but its best not to mess with them. Or anything out here really. This is a fairly harsh place so everything is aggressive, even the plants.

Now, I do my shooting at an actual range. There are still occasional snakes but the activity seems to drive most of them away.