When we think “wilderness survival shelter we tend to think of a cave in the snow, or maybe a pile of logs set up for protection, or perhaps even a home in a cave. There are many ways that you can make a shelter in the wilderness, and it depends of course on what kind of wilderness area you happen to be stranded in… or plan to escape to when disaster hits.

The method of survival shelter also depends on what time of year it is.

Let’s just imagine for a moment at what we can prepare AHEAD of time for the purpose of surviving in the wilderness….

What if….

We could build a simple camp on wheels kind of thing??

You know, sort of like a pop up trailer, except rugged enough and STURDY enough to be taken anywhere that your SUV or pickup can take it.

A portable camping shelter is what hunters use when they spend a few weeks in the woods…

It is perfect for the Do It Yourself kind of guy that wants to have a wilderness survival shelter in a bag…. er… on a trailer… =)

Anyone that has ever spent time in a tent in a remote wilderness area knows there are certain downfalls to that.

* Rainy weather….everything gets wet and damp, and soon moldy if you can’t figure out a way to dry things.

* Uneven ground… it’s okay for a few nights, but it gets pretty old to try to find a spot to sleep where you won’t be rolling downhill or ending up in a small hollow in the ground!

* No storage area… all your gear and belongings are piled up against the tent wall, where it gets all wet with condensation…

* Stooping and Ducking…no head space or room to get dressed without stooping in half to do so.

These are all things that are fine and dandy when you are simply on a camping trip for a few days…but when you are thinking a wilderness SURVIVAL shelter, it’s not such a great thought to be doing it for weeks on end!

With some simple tools and supplies, you can build what the hunters call a portable camp and be all set for all kinds of weather.

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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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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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The sacred order is: Shelter first – then water, fire, food. In a survival situation, it is critical to conserve energy and resources. Panic and frustration get in the way of success in any situation – they can be deadly in the outdoors. If it’s late in the day or you are in a place with limited resources, what you do first matters.

The point of building a shelter first is that for the outlay of energy it takes to gather branches and leaves, you can build a debris shelter without tools and ensure a way to maximize your body heat. The worst thing that can happen in the woods is not starvation or animal attack – it’s hypothermia.

Hypothermia occurs when your body temperature suddenly and profoundly cools to below 96 degrees F or 35.5 degrees C. This can happen on a warm sunny day, when perspiration drenches your clothing, drawing heat away from your body. You can also be at risk for hypothermia from exposure to wind, breathing in cold dry air, or simply being improperly dressed. Shivering is a sign that your body is cooling off. Your survival depends upon your ability to warm up.

While it’s tempting to build a fire, even if you have all the tools and dry wood available, you still need to keep feeding the fire. By contrast, building a debris shelter allows you to get a night’s sleep and stay warm. When you’re rested, you make better decisions.

Another advantage of building a debris shelter is that even if you need to use wet leaves, the air space between the leaves will collect your body heat and keep you warm. I’ve slept in a wet leaf debris shelter. When I woke the next morning, my fingers were wrinkled like I’d been in the tub too long, but I was warm. While it was no where near as comfortable as sleeping on dry leaves, cattail fluff or pine needles, I was able to relax and sleep, knowing I was safe.

Once you have shelter, water becomes your next concern. When in a survival situation, never eat unless you have enough water to keep you from becoming dehydrated. If you’re in deciduous woods, the dew that collects on plants can be collected on absorbent cloth, like cotton. I make it a point to carry one or two bandanas. You can wipe them along the surface of the plants or you can tie them to your legs and walk through wet vegetation. Ring the cloth into your mouth, or suck on it.

I also carry pint and gallon size plastic bags. These can be placed around the green leaves on a tree branch with one corner of the bag hanging lower and tied off. The moisture that forms from condensation will collect in the plastic bag. This is potable water.

In winter, DO NOT EAT SNOW, unless you have water and a container to melt the snow. Eating snow will reduce your body temperature and lead to dehydration.

There are other ways to gather potable water, but these are the easiest.

Now that you’ve got your shelter and a way to get water, if you are still in a survival situation, fire is the next challenge. On a recent camping trip, two of my three lighters failed. It wasn’t sunny, so my magnifying glass was not an option, and although I’m told fine steel wool and a 6-Volt battery (or even two AA batteries) will also start a fire, I typically do not carry them.

The only other alternative when you have no fire-making tools is to build the apparatus to start a fire. Making a bow drill or hand drill apparatus for fire by friction takes skill and practice. Understanding how fire by friction works and knowing something about wood is essential.

Starting a fire is only part of the process. You need to keep the fire going, which means gathering some kind of fire starter – dried grasses or leaves, lint from your clothing or small twigs. Once the fire is started, you need to keep it going with branches for kindling. When the fire is stronger, you can add large pieces of wood, like split logs.

It’s necessary to have your tinder, kindling and fuel gathered before you start the fire.

Once you have access to fire, then you can turn your attention to food. All grasses in North America are edible. You chew the plants, extract the juices and spit out the pulp. Pine needles can be steeped in boiling water for an excellent source of Vitamin C.

Many wild edible plants have poisonous look-alikes. Never eat anything if you have even a shadow of a doubt, especially in a survival situation.

In the winter, you won’t have access to plants or even insects. If you don’t have the ability to trap animals, you will be at a serious disadvantage. Learning to make and set different kinds of traps is an extremely useful skill.

The best preparation for a survival situation is to practice skills before you get into that situation.

Even without mastery of these skills, if you respect and follow the sacred order: shelter first, then water, then fire, and food last – your chances of survival are greatly improved.

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