You just get the idea you need to be in the wilderness (whatever is local - hot, cold, dry, wet, etc). You can pick anything up you want on the way out, but you can’t stop walking out the door.
How long do you reckon you would make it living off the land? Any special circumstances or tools that would have helped?
In winter, I would be lucky to make 48 hours. In warm weather I could probably last a week. Grabbing a blanket, knife, water bottle, and hat on the way out the door would delay the inevitable by a few days.
Anyone thinking they could survive easily needs to remember the survival Rule of Threes:
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3 minutes without breathable air (unconsciousness), or in icy water.
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3 hours without shelter in a harsh environment. (Including sleeping outdoors uncovered on a cold night, IMO.)
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3 days without drinkable water.
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3 weeks without food.
Dehydration will get you faster if you drink contaminated water from a stream and pick up giardia or some other infection that causes diarrhea.
3 hours without shelter in a harsh environment. (Including sleeping outdoors uncovered on a cold night, IMO.)
Not to mention the earth is a huge heat sink, sleeping on the ground without insulation will make you very cold very quickly.
That’s why you sleep on your shins and forearms in an upright fetal position. Maximizes skin-to-skin contact for your full body, and minimizes heat transfer to the ground.
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Now is a prime berry/mushroom season so few months with relative ease, then few more months if I’m able to fish and stay warm but the winter would be the end of me.
PNW in the states checking in. “Temperate mediterranean” is the described climate, living near a rain forest. I am ~40 years old, so I would survive ~30 years in the wilderness. I’d take a fishing pole over a rifle on my way out the door.
I also live in the PNW. I couldn’t make it 30 years, but I could make it a while. I know how to forage, how to fish, and some very basic trapping. I’ve got lots of outdoor gear to help.
My health problems would do me in before the environment would.
Not to brag, but I’ve seen at least 7 episodes of ALONE, so I could probably last forever
I live next to a major city and way in the midst of the metropolitan area so I could survive pretty long given I would likely be arrested within a day or so.
I’m not a doom prepper or anything, but I do have all my camping/survival stuff organized, so I would grab that.
Depending if I could catch enough fish, I think I could last a month without much difficulty, and longer in ideal fishing conditions.
Realistically though, the nearby river is low and I would starve. My foraging knowledge isn’t strong enough to rely on solely, but I do have a book for edibles in my area. I’d wager about 2 weeks before I would walk to the nearest fast food place.
Depends on how strict the rules are. If I’m allowed to grab my camping gear, theoretically I could last a long time. But strictly speaking, it’s not something I can just grab on the way out, and obviously I would need to pack it too.
Assuming the first scenario, the next immediate issue would be water. It’s very hot here right now, so I would need to find a reliable source of water, and fast. Realistically, initially my only option would be to drink from lakes. Without a water filter, there’s always a risk of contamination, but I could start boiling my drinking water once I get a fire going.
The second issue would be food. I know nothing about hunting, and I’m a very inexperienced fisher too, plus I don’t have any gear for it. My only options would be berries, and maybe trying to make a crude fishing rod out of a tree branch and string and hoping to get lucky. I don’t trust myself enough to touch any mushrooms unless it’s an absolute last resort.
In the long run, I think food would be the biggest problem. Most likely I would starve to death long before winter. If I somehow managed to sort out the food situation, I could try to find a protected spot for the winter and gather tons of firewood. My thickest sleeping bag is only rated for -10°C, and it gets as low as -30°C at least once each winter here, but with a fire and a sheltered spot, I think it would be survivable. But then again, food would be an even bigger issue during winter.
1-3 days, with the food I take with me
Army veteran, grew up on a farm, intense hatred of the general public.
I would not only survive, but I would thrive.
From where I’m sitting on my way out the door I can grab a backpack full of toiletries, two pocketknives, several layers of clothing, toilet paper, and a waterbottle. If I go out the back door instead of the front, the backdoor being technically closer, I will be able to fill the bottle, pickup a saucepan and whetstone and lighter, grab a big canister of trailmix I made yesterday and a half-empty box of granola bars and box of salt, and snag a shovel and some offset loppers which will be helpful in making a shelter when I get to the wilderness. No rope along the way but I’ll grab the 50ft outdoor extension cord to use instead.
I’m an Eagle Scout and can probably survive with that kit until I catch an infectious disease or winter comes, though I’d really rather have a hatchet and rope. I’d be pretty miserable after the first three days, though.
box of salt
That is some top shelf foresight!
I’m an Eagle Scout
Be Prepared!
It’s close to triple digit temps (F) where I’m at now, so heat stroke will probably get me within 24-48 hours before hunger and wild animals can.
As most people ~3 weeks.
I have 3 season camping gear so shelter wouldn’t be an issue. Water filter so that’s taken care of. The food will be an issue, European forests aren’t the best for foraging, I could probably catch some rabbit and get some mushrooms.
BUT as I don’t know nearly enough about wild food near me I will have to resort to experimentation and some poison would get me.
I’d probably survive a few very scared days in the tropical jungle - thirst would be my biggest worry.
Assuming I start walking from the bedroom, and I take the most direct path to the door, I’ve got guns, several long knives, and an ultralight tent I could pick up on the way. I’d probably be ok.