Survival In Threes

Ian D Scofield
Sep 1, 2018 · 6 min read

Recently a hiker got lost here in Washington. After several weeks she is still missing. She was an experienced camper and hiker, and was aware of the dangerous terrain in the area that she was traversing. That being said, even the most expert of outdoors people can run into trouble.

If you plan on going out into the wilderness, being prepared is important. So is being educated.

With that fact in mind, I wanted to prepare a couple of Medium articles about surviving in the wilderness. In today’s article we are going to discuss the important rule of threes. You can survive:

  • 3 Minutes Without Air
  • 3 Hours Without Shelter
  • 3 Days Without Water
  • 3 Weeks Without Food

These four “threes” can help you to prioritize your survival during an emergency.

3 Minutes Without Air

The maximum that your body can go without air is three minutes. After this, if you are going to stay alive, you need to be revived by a rescuer. Just because a rescuer is present though, does not guarantee that they will be able to revive you. Your general health and your immediate condition will help to dictate whether or not you can be revived.

Within three minutes freezing water can sap your energy and kill you. You don’t even need to be submerged.

3 Hours Without Shelter

As many people know, the elements can be harsh. Imagine living somewhere like Alaska and having to survive during a blizzard. Most of us couldn’t imagine that.

Under extreme conditions you cannot survive longer than 3 hours on average without a shelter. It is important to remember that the need for shelter can happen quickly. As day moves to night, a lot of areas cool down. Even in the desert. This can leave you needing to find somewhere safe. Wildlife can also dictate a need for shelter.

Shelter can come in a variety of different options. You can build your own shelter using available resources, such as survival supplies, branches, leaves, dirt, and other scavengable items. Or, you can find existing shelter. Caves, tree hollows, and abandoned buildings can all be used for shelter.

Make sure that whatever shelter you pick is as reinforced as possible. You want as much protection from the elements and nature as you can. Separation from the ground is also ideal to protect your body heat.

3 Days Without Water

Chapped lips and dry mouth might tell you that you need water after a few hours of being active with a mild heat, but your body can continue to function after that. It just can’t function at optimum efficiency. You can go a full 3 days without drinking water.

Our bodies utilize water in order to properly function. Natural chemicals are released in our body when we are hydrated that help us to go about our day. On top of that, water helps to regulate our body temperature, and energize our various body parts.

Staying hydrated in a survival situation doesn’t just help to keep you alive in the long run, it helps to fuel you for the present. While you can’t stockpile water in most survival situations, there are numerous ways that you can create a source of drinkable water.

One technique I have been taught in survival training, is to make two bowls out of log, or part of a log. Then you use rocks to boil water and produce drinking water. However, keeping a Life Straw or similar tool with your hiking/camping equipment can have big rewards in a survival situation.

The harsher the conditions, the more water you will need.

3 Weeks Without Food

Have you ever tried to go a full day without food? You start to notice weakness in your body and you tire quickly. What doesn’t happen, is you don’t die. It takes 3 weeks without food in order to die.

That being said, the more food you have, the easier the whole situation will become. You will have more energy, more strength, and even think clearer.

Any time you go out into the wilderness you should bring at least a small food supply. I recommend bringing a collection of emergency rations in addition to a few fruit bars/nut bars. Emergency rations may not taste good, but each portion comes with a large amount of calories. Just what you will need in that situation.

Besides food that you bring with you, most areas of wilderness will have at least one food source. During the various survival classes I have taken, we have addressed topics such as foraging, game processing, and trap building. While I don’t consider myself an expert in any of those three, I would like to think I know at least the bare minimum needed to survive.

Totality Of The Circumstances

When going through the four rules of three for a survival situation you need to take into account the totality of the circumstances. Each and every factor that is present will effect what becomes the biggest priority.

For example, if you are under water, your first priority should be to surface and get out of the water. But if you have a tent, your next priority might need to be a fire to process water and food.

You can start anywhere in the chain, you just need to thoroughly examine your immediate priorities and needs.

Educate Yourself

This is just a very basic article, designed to pique your interest in survival. So many other pieces of education go into preparing you to survive if you plan to spend time in the wilderness. Even if only on a day hike. I highly encourage you to start educating yourself and to help with that process, I plan to release several more articles in relation to wilderness survival.

To further prepare yourself, consider having reference material such as travel size books for your area. Books on local wildlife, plants, and survival are all good things to have in your pack. These books (and pamphlets) are all small enough they will fit in any bag and barely add any weight.

Help Find Sam Sayers

Despite the fact that Samantha Sayers has been missing for weeks, it is still possible that we (as a community) could find Samantha. A large community of people from around the world have devoted time and resources into the search. First, it was noted that private helicopters and volunteers were spending their time combing the area.

But something else is revolutionizing this search and rescue operation. Crowd sourcing of the search operations. FindSamSayers.com is a website set up by a collection of volunteers. Besides organizing ongoing volunteer search parties, the website gives access to drone footage of the area that has been taken since Samantha went missing. The more eyes that view the footage, the more likely someone is to spot something.

In addition to drone footage. I highly encourage you to spend some time looking at the various helicopter footage that can be found on YouTube. You could be the one that discovers a key clue.

Want to stay up to date on the search? Here is the Twitter feed for #FindSamSayers https://twitter.com/hashtag/findsamsayers

I hope that my article has helped to interest you into preparing yourself for a survival situation in the wilderness. You never know when such a situation might strike. A simple day hike could turn into being unable to return to the start of the trail, you could get injured, or you could get lost. Having experience, education, and training is key to surviving one of our biggest threats, the world around us.

Ian D Scofield

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