A rattler can strike around 1/3 to 1/2 its body length so at about 25 inches that bad boy could only strike a liitle over a foot.

Having said that I don't think I would be too keen to poke an arrow at one from that distance.

I am generally against killing snakes but thats easy to say when we don't have them where I live, and it would suck big time to have your dog killed by one.

Good shooting.

Oh and you cant really tell how old they are by how many rattles they have. They gain a rattle with each shed but in good conditions that can be 4 times a year or in bad times once a year. Also the rattles break off so they don't tend to get much more than 10 in the wild, but sometimes over 20 in captivity.