What are the Wilderness Rules of 3?
You’ve probably seen this repeated in many articles, either to focus on a single point, or as a brief overview, but what makes it so important for survival situations outdoors?
The gist of it
When people talk about the Wilderness Rules of 3, they are referring to these tips:
Humans can survive 3 minutes without air
Humans can survive 3 hours in a harsh environment
Humans can survive 3 days without water
Humans can survive 3 weeks without food
It is important that before traversing out, one should always remember these rules, as the great outdoors is an untamed and wild environment where anything could happen.
The Wilderness Rules of 3 are meant to help you choose your priorities, as an unaware lost camper may not understand what he should focus on first for survival, should things take a turn for the worst. Should he focus on building a shelter? Or finding a fresh stream to drink? Maybe scavenge for some berries?
The priorities here shift more on what your immediate problems are going to be, and not what a human’s needs are. Let’s walk through these rules.
3 minutes without air
You do not need to be a scientist to know that if you do not get enough oxygen, you are not going to live very long.
The human brain can only withstand 3-6 minutes without oxygen before brain damage occurs. Longer and brain damage may become irreversible. Individuals are unlikely to wake up after 15 minutes of oxygen deprivation.
This seems like an unlikely scenario, but when you are stuck in the wilderness with nothing but bugs to eat, you do not want to be the unlucky person finding out that the bee you thought was dead was alive after swallowing them.
Choking, especially, is a hazard undetected by many, and can be experienced when you are doing something as simple as eating your food. You chew on that piece of pork when suddenly it gets caught in your throat, and you start gagging for air. Having another person with you means they can perform the Heimlich Maneuver on you.
But what if you are alone and you start choking on those picked berries because your scarfed them too fast when you were hungry?
Then you will need to perform the maneuver on your own, and fast, by finding a nearby log and using it as a chair to hit your own self with.
3 hours in a harsh environment
Air is understandable, it’s a natural part of our human body, but what about our environment? Shouldn’t we prioritize food and water first?
Well, not really. For instance, if you are in the worst-case scenario where it starts raining while you are in the wild, then you’re in big trouble, as you can easily catch hypothermia with wet clothes.
Without proper shelter, you can die from exposure to the elements practically overnight. It is good to have food and water, but if your body is so weak from the cold, will you even have the energy to move yourself to eat?
Therefore, one should prioritize building a shelter early. Even something as simple as a lean-to works, and it doesn’t need any tools to build.
3 days without water
This one is more understandable, our body can handle 3 days at most without having water to drink, but this is the maximum threshold. We will rarely ever have that as our threshold.
See, when you want to survive, you’re not going to be loitering around to maximize the water reserves in your body. You’re going to be scavenging, building, cooking, whatever. Basically, you’re going to be doing a lot of work, meaning that your body is going to be exerting a lot of energy, which means more water burned.
So really, don’t expect your body to last the whole 3 days, especially if you have been doing some heavy lifting. Its resilience is much more limited.
Plus, dehydration can start acting up as early as six hours without water, so it’s not a good idea to just leave your body as is without any. Prioritize finding water after you have properly dealt with the above.
3 weeks without food
Unlike with water, your mileage with food may vary. This is because humans have different amounts of fat stored in their bodies, so if you cannot find anything to eat, your body will start eating these parts first.
However, you can rest easy that you will not die as fast without food than without water. Your fat will last you a couple of weeks at the very least.
But you will still have to worry about the fact that you will not be getting proper nutrients and you might feel weak after not having a proper meal, so don’t just forget about food. You still need to eat a proper meal, even if it is mostly from scavenged dead bugs and unknown wild berries.
Priorities
Even with the rules of 3, don’t forget to apply common sense too. This priority setup assumes that you are in an ideal situation (Well, the ideal situation is that you’re not in a survival situation in the first place, but moving on) and can afford to choose your priorities.
If you are extremely thirsty, you want to find water fast, not wait until you have built a shelter. You will not have long to do so either.
It is a good rule of thumb, but it’s not something you should follow by the book, especially if other priorities are more important.