Although I had lived, and hiked, and backpacked in the Southwest for twenty or so years, encounters with rattlesnakes were pretty rare. If one sees snakes at all, they’re usually stretched across a trail or road. I had sure never encountered one where it posed a problem, like crawling into someones sleeping bag. The closest anyone I knew ever came was when I was hiking with my nephew, he once sat on a large large rock that had a rattler underneath. When it rattled, he moved. This is generally considered appropriate behavior. He might have been maybe a little too excited, and ran much farther than he needed to, but the move-away–leave-it-alone strategy is all one really needs to do in most cases. The people that do get bitten are usually young, drunk, and male.
Most people in rural areas with great hideouts like barns and woodpiles, will usually handle rattlesnake encounters with matter-of-fact blowing them away with a shotgun.
I somehow got a job at a nature sanctuary near a small town and moved there from Tucson. I had been a volunteer for a few years and Jerry, the manager, finally had the funding to hire some help. Meetings with rattlesnakes increased.