Survival Tips

Making a Shelter

The following comments refer to building a shelter in a survival situation.

It takes some practice to make a shelter, if you ARE practising the craft, bear in mind that you probably need permission from the land owner to cut down standing timber, fell branches etc. Always take down your practice shelter afterwards as it may become unstable with time and be a danger to children playing in the area.

Most people can manage to find shelter or make a crude shelter in a survival situation, which is why I do not cover this subject in my books Disasters Happen and Disasters Happen – Military Version

The first rule in a survival situation is not to waste precious energy, so always look for natural shelter rather than spend time and energy trying to make a shelter you probably will only use for a short time. This fallen tree is stable and it would take little work to turn it into a debris shelter (see below).

A few pointers about using natural shelter:

• Animals use natural shelter, especially caves, overhangs, thickets or even sheltering beneath a large tree. Ensure that the area is not already occupied. Equally important is to make sure that the shelter you have chosen is not the natural night time habitat of any wild creature.
  
  
• To check inside a cave the rule is never to enter it (especially at dusk or night) without first studying the cave and listening carefully for the sound of young animals inside. Cave dwellers (depending where abouts in the world you are) can include adult animals and the young of many wild cats, wild dogs; also, snakes, bats, scorpions and many different biting insects shelter in caves. Large cats (Leopard, Cheater, etc.) may leave their young for periods whilst out hunting. If you hear young animals inside the cave, leave the area. Snakes are sensitive to vibrations, throwing some rocks or branches into a cave will usually bring a snake out (not always, so be very careful in areas with pit vipers and boas). Think about what you will do if a wild animal does exits the cave.
  
  Bats are difficult to dislodge and they will not usually leave a cave until sundown. Most bats are harmless but they foul the floor beneath them. Where bats live in tropical areas they will probably be actively hunted by snakes. If you do enter a cave, use a burning torch. Most animals will retreat from flames but some animals do not react to the beam of an electric light. Try not to go too far from the entrance of a cave, go in just far enough to shelter from the elements so you can make a quick exit if necessary. Some cave floors can shelve down deeply and ceilings can be unstable. A cave makes a good shelter but also a good trap and you are in it!
  
  
• Overhangs can make good overnight shelter. Study the ground below the overhang. If there are large boulders or stones immediately below the overhand suspect the mass above is not too stable. If the ground is damp it probably means that an aquifer is leaking through the rock – could get very wet if it rains even a distance from where you are. If you are in snake country (desert, etc.) look for signs that snakes have travelled the area. Pit vipers may regularly check out areas below overhangs to catch sheltering rodents. They may also shelter from the heat under overhangs.
  
  
• Thicket or other dense vegetation can often be hacked out to make a good overnight shelter. Many animals will not try to enter into thicket but reptiles, of course, are undaunted by it. As with a cave, once you are in a thicket you are also in an effective trap should predators be around.
  
  
• Trees can make good shelter but there are things to be aware of. In desert areas especially, and in jungle, many insects dwell in a single tree. Ants can be a deadly nuisance and there may be thousands of them living in and around a single tree in the desert. The same applies to trees in the jungle. It may seem obvious, but always study the canopy of any tree you decide to use for shelter, and also the trees around. I met a guy in South Africa who had rested under a tree and was attacked by a leopard and he had the scars to prove it. OK, you could live three lifetimes before ever meeting anyone else who had such an experience, but just make sure it isn't you!
  
  
• "Caves" in glaciers are not true caves. A glacier is moving and a cave can close up in a matter of a few hours. Don't want to wake up as part of a giant ice cube.
  
  
• Natural shelter is anything that protects you from sun, wind, cold and wet. Remember that a hillside can be natural shelter if it gets you out of a cold wind and that is all you have to worry about. No need to make a shelter for nothing.

• Choose natural shelter as a preference when making a shelter for short term protection.
  
  
• Always give yourself plenty of time to build your shelter; in the topics nigh falls quickly with little or no twilight; in jungle the sun may still be out above the canopy but little light penetrates and night falls quickly on the forest floor.
  
  
• Make the shelter no larger than you need; in cold and wind this preserves body heat, a larger shelter wastes time and energy and larger structures are more easily damaged by the elements.
  
  
• Make sure you have plenty of ventilation.
  
  
• Avoid building your shelter on damp or boggy ground.
  
  
• In jungle, always clear an area of ground four time larger than the area of the shelter; snakes and scorpions do not like to cross disturbed ground. Always clear debris from the jungle floor with a handful of branches, never use your hands.
  
  
• Do not build your shelter on an exposed site; pay attention to wind direction and if it is likely to change in the night.
  
  
• Always make sure that your shelter is safe to sleep and live in; test main structures as you build.
  
  
• If you are thatching your shelter, always work from the bottom up.
  
  
• If you are making a fire, make sure it will not set light to your shelter if the wind changes direction.
  
  
• Make sure you can get out of any shelter fast if you need to.
  
  
• Learn to make one or two types of shelter, nothing elaborate, become proficient in building the shelters so you don't have to waste time and effort if you are ever in a situation when you need one.

• Locate a low overhanging branch or construct an A-frame using three poles about 2 meters long so it looks like a low version of a Red Indian tepee. (Mark out a triangle on the ground and stick one end of each pole in the ground at each apex and lash the tops of the poles together; if one branch is forked this is an advantage).
  
  
• Fasten one end of the snare to the apex of your A-frame or to the low branch you selected.
  
  
• Spread out your Space Blanket and locate the centre. Place a smooth stone in the centre, grasp it and turn the blanket over holding the stone inside.
  
  
• Drop the second loop of your double loop snare over the stone and pull gently tight. Your Space Blanket is now hanging down from the centre suspended by the snare from the low branch or from the apex of your A-frame. Make sure it is not too high so you have plenty of material on the ground.
  
  
• Spread out the Space Blanket and weight down three sides with stones. If you have enough Duck Tape (unlikely) reinforced the edges of the blanket, pierce through the tape and tie the edges down to heavy stones or branches.
  
  
• Lift up the free corner of the blanket and trap it in the top loop of the snare. This forms the opening.
  
  
• You have now constructed your quick shelter, effectively this is a tent!
  
  
• If it is windy or very severe weather or if you need to stay put for several days you need to build a "debris" shelter around your tent.
  
  
• To make a debris shelter, rest strong branches over the low tree branch or all around your A-frame to form an outer layer. Use as many branches as possible to make a strong "shell." (Of course, the debris shelter can be constructed without the Space Blanket if speed is of the essence. Similarly, your Space Blanket can be hung over the low branch and weighted down to make a "ridge tent" if you need to make a shelter really fast).
  
  
• Fill in gaps between these outer branches with any materials to hand.
  
  
• Dig a trench around your shelter to channel away rainwater. Bear in mind that you should protect your shelter from sparks and flames so position your fire carefully.

Using the environment
The shelter below was built in a fir forest using only a commando wire saw for felling and trimming and uses the natural support of the trees themselves as a structure. It took me 2 hours to build the first side and 1 hour to build the other side. The shelter cross beams could be lashed to the trees for additional security in a strong wind if cordage is available. Such a shelter has various possibilities. It could be built faster and lower using only one side to protect from the prevailing wind. It could be constructed on four sides to give a bad weather shelter in unpredictable weather conditions. The size of this shelter would house a group of six and is high enough to allow small a fire inside. Study what is available and make a shelter only good enough to protect you and strong enough to stand up to the length of time you intend to use it. Always test the stability of a large shelter by shaking key supporting parts as you build it. Better it collapses at the outset than when you are asleep inside it. Click on the thumbnail photos to see more detail, they will open in a new window.

 

• Step 1. At the base of the drift, clear a chamber approximately two metres high, one metre wide and one metre forward into the drift. It is easier to move dug out snow if you are on a slope facing downhill.
  
  
• Step 2. Excavate a dome-shaped room by digging into the drift in all directions, starting one metre beyond the tunnel entrance.
  
  
• Step 3. Build a platform 1 metre off the floor to lie on, because the cold air is heavier and will collect at the lowest point of your chamber.
  
  
• Step 3. To reduce the size of the tunnel entrance by half, pack it with snow, which you have to compact down with something heavy. The entrance must be lower than your sleeping platform to make a heat trap. Use anything available to make the entrance as small as possible. You are essentially entombing yourself in a snow chamber.
  
  
• Step 4. Make 3 ventilation holes in the roof of your snow hole using sticks, walking staves, anything you can force through the snow. Keep the vent holes open by waggling the sticks around from time to time. Mark the top of your snow hole so you do not mistakenly step on it.
  
  
• Step 5. Back in your chamber, smooth the ceiling so no water can drip from any pointed surfaces. (You will heat up the snow and melt it and there is water condensation from your breathing.)
  
  
• Step 6. Mark a route from your sleeping platform to the entrance using cord, coloured tape, or anything else you have to hand. This is useful if your snow home collapses on you and you have to dig your way out (can happen!).
  
  
• Step 6. Leave a marker outside, need to use whatever you have, so you can be found if people are searching for you, they will not find you in a snow hole!
  
  
• Step 7. Settling in – try to get a layer of insulation between yourself and the sleeping bench. Pine branches are good, use anything possible to form an insulation layer between you and the snow. A snow hole is considerably warmer than being outside but it is still very cold to live in. Any heat source inside will help, even a candle will add considerable heat.