Give Me Shelter

Building The Perfect Shelter

Imagine you are lost in the woods while on a nature hike you planned to take for only a couple hours. You are dressed in workout attire, (wind breaker, sneakers, shorts, t-shirt, and have with you a PVC water bottle half full of water). 

It is four o’clock in the July afternoon, and you live in the Pacific Northwest. Temperatures are average, and the forecast calls for clear skies. This is literally the best possible scenario for someone living in the area weather wise.

You have 72 hours (on the high side ) to find shelter from the low temperatures   (17 degrees Celsius is 64 in Fahrenheit) Your body temperature should be 98 Fahrenheit so you can easily see exposure is going to be a major issue.  

What are you going to do? How are you going to protect yourself from the elements with such limited resources?

Whether you construct an A Frame, A Teepee (TiPi) Wiki Up, Ramada Awning, a Lean To, or some other kind of shelter you need to get moving. Time for you is of the essence. 

First thing you will want to do is find a sturdy length of log to use as a hammer. Make sure it is as sturdy as possible, beating rotten wood on anything is not effective. 

Collect longer medium sized logs and cut them to length by putting them between two trees and using your weight to break them to proper size.

Find a tree with a shoulder to head height V shaped trunk, and place a long pole in that notch. On either side of that pole form a “tent” of poles by hammering wooden logs into the ground angled slightly to leave room under the main pole.

Place smaller branches along both sides of that main pole making an A-Frame looking dwelling.  (see Picture)  Clear the ground underneath and prepare it for sleeping.  The goal here is to build a hasty dry place to stay out of the weather, and stay warm. You should plan to spend time each day improving your shelter until help arrives. 

Try to keep your sleeping area off of the ground, and insulate yourself from the chill by scooping up ground cover, and filling a depression dug under the shelter roof.  Or, if time and materials allow, raise the bed off the floor by making a platform of logs and use the ground cover to mattress that.  

When you are selecting this “campsite” try to build it in an area that is on high ground, in a clearing where you will easily be spotted. Use a piece of cloth to mark your new base something that can be seen easily so you can look for water, and fire wood. Spotting the camp will be less of an issue once you have a fire built, which is next. 

Building a fire is a skill everyone older than 13 needs to have and be proficient at. The basic rules of fire building are simple. 1. Fuel 2. Oxygen 3. Heat source.

 These principles form the fire pyramid and are present in every single fire. A fire cannot burn without fuel, oxygen, or a heat source to begin the chain reaction. 

Step 1. Clear an area to build a fire in. Find some medium size stones and form a fire pit. Clear the inside of the pit, and six feet around the pit free of debris. 

Step 2. Gather wood of all sizes. Twigs, leaves, sticks, and logs. Make sure they are dead, dry, and will burn easily. Gather a ton of these materials because late at night in the dark is NO time to be collecting firewood. 

Step 3. Make sure your firepit is close enough to your shelter to provide warmth while you are in it. You do not want to have to make the choice between huddling in your shelter freezing, or being warmed by your fire. Six feet distance is plenty to keep you from being burned, or frozen to death. 

Step 4. Figure out the method of building your fire. What materials do you have that can start a fire? Flint and Steel? Magnifying the sun's rays? Electrical? Friction? How quickly and how much energy do you want to put into starting your fire? Do you have a lighter? Problem solved. If you do not have an ignition source, do you know how to make one, and do you have the materials for it? 

Step 5. Prepare your materials.. Ok you know where and how you will be building your fire. Now you need to prepare yourself for success. Scrambling around looking for dry twigs is not a good idea when trying to start a fire. Have everything you need on hand, and being familiar with what materials are most flammable will be the difference between hours of frustration or minutes of work. 

Step 6. Build your fire. Building a fire is very simple if you do it step by step. Remember to go from small material to larger as you build. Using hardened pine sap (fatwood) as an accelerant is a very good idea. There are fire accelerants in practically every environment, you should become familiar with the ones in your current environment. 

Step 7. Have enough wood large enough to burn for hours. You do not want to have to get up out of a warm shelter, or slowly freeze to death because you let your fire go out while sleeping. Collect the wood you need to last the entire night. Use your firewood collection time to survey what your next moves are going to be. 

If you are lost, and want to be found sooner than later, make your fire as smoky as possible.. Smoke can be visible for miles so staying close to your fire and creating plenty of smoke is a good idea. 

Rule of thumb is build shelter out of greener material build fires out of dead stuff. The reasons should be obvious. 

You should also make it a habit to go walking with at least one other person, and alert one or two others to your plans. It will make finding you so much easier. 

That covers it for this week. What questions or comments do you have for us here at Black Cock Survival? What is your favorite method for starting fires in the wild? 

Next week we go over different methods for quickly starting a fire. Be sure to subscribe. 

One last thing, We have been asked to start a video series showing all of these skills and some product reviews. Leave us a comment if you would like to see this in the future.