First thing to do is learn your snakes, Buy a Peterson Guide or any other well written guide that has enough information to learn to identify the snake. Then you can figure out what to do. Most snakes will not bother you if you leave them alone. About 30 years ago I did have a water moccasin try to climb into my canoe, but he got cut in half by an oar, brought down upon him with, shall we say great vigor. Didn't know I could do that until then, but adrenaline helps. Other than that incident, as I said about 30 years ago, I have found most snakes prefer to be left alone and leave others alone unless they look like food.
If you are walking in tall grass vegetation where snakes are likely to hang out it might be prudent to invest in some snake chaps. Cabela's sells them probably also, http://www.sportsmansguide.com, or Bass Pro.

It's easier to show you here http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/common/search/search-results1.jsp?_dyn...
They're just like cowboys chaps with the difference that they're not leather, they're cordura nylon, and you wear them over your pants when you're out and about in snake country. These are things that when I'm snake hunting, I prefer to wear when I walking in the tall brush where you can't see squat.
You can get gaiters or chaps, I prefer chaps, but that is just my preference and based on the snake hunting terrain I have been in.

There is a lot to learn as stated earlier learn your snakes each has it's own personality,some will move others would just as soon double bite you.Never step over a log without looking rattlers love to lay beside a log,We got some eastern diamondbacks and timber rattlers some seven feet long and big as a mans leg.If you live after a bite it will be a stroke of luck.The diamondback, cottonmouth and copperhead are mean,the hotter the weather the meaner they get.Watch where you walk and put your hands and you don't have much to worry about.If walking in tall grass take a walking staff and push aside the trail ahead of you.Getting in a hurry or stumbling around in the dark going to a stand is asking for trouble
Use your god given brain.just good common sense.And by no means try to handle a snake of any kind.In my time I have seen several snake bites and you dont get over them overnight,a lot of them was from someone who thought they knew what they were doing and didn't.
Alabamaoutlaw

I would say a bite in the knee region wouldn't be out of the realm of possibilites .Timber cruiser was bitten on the back of his thigh on a pine knoll in the swamp large snake but think the snake was on a log or an elavated point .They got him to a barge where a helicopter could get to him.Our timber and eastern rattlers are very heavy snakes and i dont think they are the athetles of the west, they are mean and short tempered though ,But i,m going to keep a good distance from them all.

It's the time of the year for rattlers to start their move toward their den sites.Watch where you put your hands and feet.

I would recommend to just keep walking away, it's not like their going to go chasing after you. Just try avoiding their territory as much as possible. Obviously stay ut of brush areas and try to keep hikes and walks on open paths to avoid running into one.

jacy1515, it was probably getting ready to shed its skin, since its eyes were opaque, you may have caught him in the early stages. My question is, at five foot, there should have been some decent eating there. Did you cook him? They are really good blackened with Cajun spices. Makes me hungry thinking about it.
And you are very correct, eating any critter raw in the wild can have serious consequences. It may NOT kill you, but it could. It also could leave you being sick enough that you beg to die.
As I posted quite some time ago, I don't watch any of the survivor shows. I think they are stupid and could lead people into making very wrong choices at a time when there is no leeway for wrong choices. In the wilds, nature doesn't give us a "do-over" very often if at all.