Have you ever wondered what exactly you would do if you were stranded in a wilderness setting? There are many wonderful resources out there (and some not so wonderful) to teach you about the basics of wilderness survival. However, most go into levels of detail about arcane situations that most people would never find themselves in. My intent here is to provide a basic overview of survival based on the “Rules of 3.”

All you have to do is commit to memory these Survival Rules of 3, and if the situation ever arises, you will know what you have to deal with first. In a nutshell, the Rules of 3 are:

3 Minutes without Air

3 Hours without Shelter

3 Days without Water

3 Weeks without Food

For all intents and purposes, unless you have found yourself (or more likely, someone else has found you) in a medical situation, you do not have to worry about the first rule. Common sense, and physical urges, would tell us if we were under water, we have less than 3 minutes to get to air.

So, in a wilderness survival setting, our first priority is shelter. In extreme conditions, the average person needs to find shelter from the elements within 3 hours. Obviously, cold conditions are the main target of this rule. Keep in mind that being wet or hot would also apply here. When you find yourself in a survival situation, the first thing you must do is find shelter from the elements. If you have a tent, put it up. If not, you can construct a lean to from the natural resources you find in the area. If you need shelter immediately, you can find a natural rock overhang or something similar to get out of the snow, rain, and/or wind. Remember, you have to protect yourself from hypothermia. After you have built a shelter, make a fire. A fire will keep you warm and also lift your spirits.

Once you have secured a good shelter and fire, your next thoughts should turn to water. Human beings can not live beyond 3 days without water. Unless you are on a backpacking trip, you probably do not have iodine tablets or some other method of clearing water of bacteria. You should look for immediate water sources. If you find them, you can boil the water for safety. Otherwise, you may to use other resources, such as making a solar still or using the evaporation method. More on these methods can be found elsewhere.

The final Rule of 3 is 3 weeks without food. Many survival shows on TV or survival websites trump up methods of find food or the priority of finding food. The truth is most people who are lost are found within 3 days. Food should be your last priority. And also remember, you don’t want to spend more energy finding good than you will get from the food. You want to conserve energy, you want to stay in one spot, and you want to stay safe. However, let’s say you are in a survival situation long enough to need food. Your thoughts can then turn to finding something to eat. Unless you are an expert on local plants, do not eat berries, leaves, or mushrooms that you think might be edible. You could easily die. You also do not want to spend time and energy hunting animals far off from your campsite. Considering that you want to conserve energy, the ideal method is to create snares to catch small animals such as squirrels or rabbits. While the chances of catching one is slim, remember that you will not expend much energy using this method, and you don’t need much food to stay alive.

One final note about wilderness survival: always tell someone where you are going and when you expect to return. This is the best guarantee that you will survive if you found yourself in a survival situation. If no one knows that you are missing, then no one will be looking for you.

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http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_C_Haynes

In emergency situations, one of the biggest problems is to focus on what matters most. That’s why in the field of emergency medicine, we use acronyms and steps like the “ABC’s” to help us control panic and remember what we should do first, then second, etc…

I was an EMT and WEMT and I taught First Responders for years. It was always interesting to see how people reacted in emergency situations. And over the years, I grew to really love acronyms because of how they helped people focus when the chips were down.

Well survival is no different, we still need to control panic and prioritize our efforts. This is where the “Rule of 3′s” comes in.

The Rule of 3′s simply stated is you have:

3 minutes without AIR

3 hours without SHELTER

3 days without WATER

3 weeks without FOOD

So what does all this mean? It tells us where our priorities should be in a survival situation.

First, we should focus on all life threatening conditions making sure we’ll still be breathing in the near future. Next, we should worry about shelter because more people die of exposure than any other incident in the outdoors. Next is water. And then finally food, which is last, not first. You would be surprised at how long a human can go without food (we’re a little spoiled in modern society in the area of food).

Search and rescue statistics show most people are rescued within 72 hours, so if you handle the first 2 priorities, you’re most likely going to make it.

If things do go longer, you know what’s next — water. And finally, last but not least, food. The “Rule of 3′s” (just like the “ABC’s”) is a tool to help you control panic and remember in any survival situation what your steps are and what matters most.

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http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gregory_Rouse

More important than food and perhaps even more important than fire, water is necessary for survival. Maybe it is obvious, but our bodies are comprised of a lot of it.

You can harvest water in a variety of ways. Unless you live in Michigan (the Great Lakes State) or Minnesota (Land of 10,000 Lakes) or such locales where ponds and lakes are prevalent, free-flowing water may not always be readily available. Standing water can be a bit sketchy, so if you don’t have a kit to test or a way to purify, you need to seek it elsewhere.

Plants are some of the easiest to locate and most reliable sources of clean water. Many of them hold droplets of rain on the leaves and others house plenty of moisture in their stems.

Avoid drinking from storm drains, sewers, and puddles with rainbow sheen. Not all that is wet is water, so use your other senses to help determine whether or not it is in fact water.

If a plant is growing in soil that is near urban areas, the ground water may be contaminated. In this case, the more rustic the venue the better your chances are of finding healthier sources. Of course, this works to your advantage – if you are in a survival situation, you are probably pretty far out in the wild anyway.

Use caution when acquiring water from plants in the wild. If you aren’t sure whether or not a plant is poisonous or not, don’t use it. Remember the unfortunate kid at summer camp that ran through the poison ivy in shorts? Now imagine trying to scratch the back of your throat when it itches!

More often than not, you may be able to trust grapevines, birch tree sap, maple tree sap, and thistles. Some plants look like other plants that you really don’t want to use for water collection. Grapevines have a poisonous look-alike, the Canada Moonseed vine, so be careful.

Instead of pressing your luck by squeezing what may or may not be grapevines, press the wood fibers of birch trees in your fist and point your thumb towards your open mouth.

Remember: water can be acquired from a variety of natural sources, but use your better judgment and never assume.

Article Source:

http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gabriel_J._Adams