Tribune Staff Writer

              AUBURNDALE - The Florida diamondback rattlesnake, that deadly, cat-eyed devil of the bay-heads and palmetto flatwoods, can be quite a dinnertime delicacy if you know how to obtain and prepare the rare treat in style-du-Auburndale: heavy on the household ammonia.
              Skeptics doubting that a deadly poison can be a prime ingredient in concocting such a dish can take relief in the fact that the man who prepares - Carl Allen - has been using it for more than 50 years and hasn't lost a friend yet.
              That aside for a moment the local snake gourmet says one of the most touchy tasks in getting the wriggling serpent from woods to plate is the hand-to-hand combat phase, a chilling necessity in the recipe.
              "I guess the most dangerous part of the fixin' is getting them ready, the cleaning and dressing. That takes a lot of know-how and experience, and you bet you'd better be careful about it," reported Allen, 59.

              "THAT FELLA CAN be just as bad on you dead, as he can be alive."
              Allen's basic procedure is thus:
              Fetch one five-foot bay or highland rattler and place it carefully in a wooden box with a hinged lid. When the snake isn't looking, pass the wire loop of a loopstick over its neck. Lift the quarry from the box, and, even more carefully, grasp it behind the head. Remove the loop. Drop the stick. With the opposite hand, using a sharp instrument, dispatch the snake to its final reward by passing the sharp instrument into its brain.

              WITH WHATEVER sharp tool you feel comfortable, separate the head from the body. Swiftly bag the head and set aside.
              Allen said the rattlesnake chef must be wary of the business end of the living snake at all times, naturally. But after the head is lopped off, one still must not falter in his or her caution, "Don't matter if those fangs are in a head that's still on the body or not," Allen warned, "they can still put that poison into you."
              At this stage, Allen says the cook should not get upset if the snake's body continues to coil and strike, That's natural, he says. Long after the snake loses its head, it will keep acting like it has one.

              "THAT'S STILL A little scary seein' him hit at you like that, but that's all." says Allen.
              Once the bothersome wriggling has subsided enough, a pair of very sharp scissors should be employed to carefully slit and remove the valuable hide, or skin.
              Allen recommends donating the hide to a handicapped workshop or other similar rehabilitative organization so it can be worked into an item of lasting beauty.

              NEXT, SIMPLY slice the long loaf of fresh meat into steaks by cutting crosswise through the spine. 
              When fried, one five-foot highland diamondback yields about two platefuls of white, chicken-like meat. The fatter bay diamondback might give a little more.
              Allen, who says he's never been bitten, "just hit on the boots a couple of times," doesn't do much of the actual hunting anymore. The cleaning and cooking of delicacies like the diamondback take up most of his time at his restaurant here.

              ALLEN HAS ABOUT six men at any one time doing the hunting for him, and says he sells all he can get, "to folks who really love it and folks who just want to say they ate some." The hunters catch between one and 10 snakes a week on an average now, but in the fall the hunting is better and their catch is greater, Allen said.
              Hunting and dressing rattlesnake is not for just anybody, Allen points out. Considering all the peculiarities of the diamondback, an inexperienced hunter just might not come back.
              Allen said the cunning snakes have been known to chase humans 25-to-30 yards before giving up; most of, them don't rattle before striking: like humans, some are naturally mean and some docile, but Allen says by far the meanest, most unpredictable of all the diamondback family is the pregnant female.

              THAT'S ANOTHER thing. When cleaning a rattler, Allen said one must be careful of babies. The young often hide in the mother's mouth and won't come out until she is dead. Allen said they are as poisonous as their mother.
              In the half-century he's been catching and eating rattlesnake, and the 16 he's been serving it at his restaurant, Allen said he has learned how to pick the most healthy, meaty ones for the discriminating patron.
              "I never like to kill one that's mean, hateful or contrary," he said, "because they tend to be a little tough.
              "Now, when you're thinking about getting one, check him over to see that he's okay," he went on. "I check out to see if he's well fed and he has a real clean head and a smooth hide. He has to have a real clean mouth, too. I'm very particular about the quality," Allen said.

              ALLEN'S HUNTERS go at it very professionally. They know about what terrain will yield a certain number and type of snake and when. They even know what areas to stake out in ambush, he said.
              Abandoned gopher holes give the best results, he said, and since summers are hot and digging into the earth in the woods can be mighty tedious, the hunters don't carry a shovel. Instead, they carry a length of garden hose.