Wilderness Survival

[RunDownHouse]

We're having some technical problems at work today, so with our stuff down we've been having a conversation about wilderness survival. Here's the premise: you have a good knife and the clothes on your back (light clothing, maybe something like boots, pants, and sweatshirt). The environment is somewhere in the midwest/midsouth, so the temperatures can get cold, but not freezing. Say it might be as cold as 35-38 at night and as warm as 55-60 during the day. It will rain occasionally.

How long could the average person survive? What would be the best strategies for survival, and what would be the greatest dangers?

I've been taking online survival quizzes all morning, its kind of fun.
Quiz
Cold-weather Quiz

[man]

given that the average person knows nothing about survival in sub-tropical temperatures, and gives up easily, I'd say the longest the average person could last is about seven days.

this depends on a great deal more than just the weather, though, because most wilderness deaths occur due to psychological factors. for example is a helicopter flies overhead but it fails to see you, you will lose all hope and die in short order.

as far as the best strategies for survival, the number one is to keep an optimistic attitude. I'm serious. all the knowledge in the world will not save you if you don't think you can survive. secondly would be to find a way to stay out of the rain. hypothermia will probably be the leading cause of death among average people. thirdly I guess would be finding ways to keep warm. building fires (smokers have a huge advantage here), finding better insulation for yourself.

the greatest dangers, as said earlier, are the psychological pitfalls you will experience. and getting cold and dying.

all this is based on my limited experience as a boy scout.

I would die in about 3 hours.

I got a sunburn in freakin Ireland the last two times I've been there. The Irish look at me and say "Man you are one pale MF!"

[RunDownHouse]

I said the same thing. I think you'd get sick pretty quickly and die not long after. If it was raining on your first couple days out, I'd think you'd get pneumonia within 3-4 days and die not long after that.

Most of my coworkers say the average person would last over two weeks, saying it isn't hard to build a little lean-to or find other shelter, and if you had shelter and a fresh water source, you could scrounge up enough food to last at least two weeks.

I don't really have any experience or education on this sort of thing - though neither do they - so I thought I'd turn to OOT.

[codewarrior]

Really? You can get pneumonia from getting wet now? I thought it was caused by a virus, or by aspirating something irritating. Silly me, I didn’t know that!

Gosh!

[RunDownHouse]

Sleep on soggy ground in 40 degree weather for a few nights and see how well your immune system responds.

Also, the sarcastic condescension doesn't really fit you.

[codewarrior]

Give me a break, I'm getting my period.

Good day.

[rusellmj]

85% on the first one. I guess I need to brush up on my stone knife making.

[Alobar]

Less than 3 days I imagine. Thats pretty effing colf for such wussie clothing, and if it rains? I dont know jack about hypothermia but it seems like youd get that from those conditions

[MrWookie47]

As man said, if you're going to die, it's almost certainly going to be from hypothermia. Staying dry should be job #1. And if your (presumably cotton) clothes do get wet, you may even be better strutting around naked than keeping the wetness close to your skin.

After that, you've got to find help and find water. Food may be nice, but you can go a lot longer w/o eating than w/o drinking. But if you find help, all of that is irrelevant. Since you don't have a whistle to blow ad nauseum, finding a meadow would be great. Find a meadow, get some rocks, and spell out a big HELP. Hey, if you wear glasses, you may be able to start a fire w/ them. That will keep you warm and dry, and help people find you all at once. I don't think the average person is good enough to start a fire w/ friction, or can find a flint rock consistently enough to make starting a fire a realistic priority, however.

Food? I don't know the edible plants in the Midwest or Southwest. I would fare better in the Pacific Northwest, where I know what plants I can eat better. I guess I could always turn to bugs, though.

If a person maintains a cool, level head and the will to survive, they've got two weeks easy. If he flips out, gives up, and gets wet, he's probably got more like 4 days. Unfortunately for them, a lot of people fall into the latter category.