The Importance of Shelter

Whether you are spending a night out in the woods just for fun to practice your survival skills or you are in a real survival situation, shelter needs to be one of your top priorities.

In any climate protection from the elements is vital for your survival. When you are in a hot climate, where heat stroke, dehydration, and sun burn are a big concern, your shelter should be able to give you shade from the sun. In a cold climate, where hypothermia and frost bite are a serious threat, your shelter should keep you out of the wind and cold. If you're in wet conditions, being able to dry out at the end of the day is of utmost importance. Otherwise you could end up with trench foot, which in severe cases can lead to the flesh on you feet basically rotting and falling off the bone.

Something that is almost as important as the shelter is the site you build it on. There are many factors that you look into when choosing the shelter site. You should always check for low spots in the ground where you intend to build the shelter. If a sudden downpour were to come, you could find yourself in the middle of a small pond. Never make you shelter in a dry river bed, which are prone to flash floods. Flash floods kill over a hundred people a year in the US. Dead standing trees are something else to watch out for around the site. This is a greater danger than you might think. I've learned from experience that this is not something to be taken lightly. In a strong wind, dead standing trees can snap like twigs. Animal life is another thing to look after. Make sure you don't build your shelter in the middle of an animal trail or near a bugs nest. You wouldn't want an unwelcome guest in the middle of the night. Build the opening of the shelter away from the direction of the wind as well. Otherwise your shelter could become a wind tunnel making for a cold night.

When you start building your shelter remember to keep it simple. I used to try to build all sorts of complex shelter but ended up finishing none of them. Your shelter doesn't need to be fancy, it needs to be a warm (or cool depending on the climate) and dry place to stay in.

Building a Snow Trench

Hey everyone!

I finally found the time to get outdoors and use all this snow to work on the outdoor skills.

I've wanted to build a snow trench for quite some time but never had enough snow to build one. Now I finally have enough to build one.

I started off by measuring my approximate

height so I would know about how long to build

my trench. You will want it to actually be a

little longer, which I learned the hard way.

Once you've measured the length, start digging the

trench. Using a stick helps considerably and saves on the hands.

After the trench is finished, start laying sticks
perpendicularly to the trench. You will want to
lay them very close together.

Once you've finished with the first layer, lay another
layer in the opposite direction. Again lay them very close together.
The idea is to keep them tightly together so the snow won't
all fall through when you put it on.
You will want to do about four alternating layers
of sticks.

When you're done it should look something like

this.

When you are done laying the sticks, start piling loads

of snow on top of the sticks. You will want it

pretty thick, so be generous with the snow.

This is what the finished product should look like.

It's not very roomy or comfortable but it could save

your life in a survival situation.

Ray Mears-Shelter and foraging

Shelter: Forest A-Frame

The A-Frame shelter is one of the most basic shelters out there. Instructions on how to build one can be found in almost any book on bushcraft or survival manual, so I'm not going to give instructions on how to build one. I will say that although it is easy to construct it's also time consuming. It took me about two hours to build the one shown in the pictures, but the outcome was well worth the effort. Experience has taught me that giving your shelter a little more attention gives you a much better nights sleep.