Surviving in the wild takes a number of things to work. Even then, nothing is guaranteed. The basic tenants of survival are shelter followed by food and water. These feed into the most important factor; the will to survive.

To start off, if you find yourself in a survival situation, you need to find shelter. Shelter is a must in certain climates, and can be more important than food or water. To keep things concise, I’m only going to talk about general survival and not escape and evasion (which changes things dramatically). I’m also going to examine survival in a moderate climate. Snow survival and desert survival deserves their own post.

You might be asking yourself, why do I need a shelter? What if it’s just a nice sunny day, a warm 70 degrees and not a cloud in the sky? Here’s why. A shelter is necessary because it keeps us warm and/or cool, keeps can help keep the bugs at bay, and it can help add little comfort to an uncomfortable situation. Because let’s face it, survival isn’t camping. It isn’t fun, and each day that you find yourself in that kind of situation is going to be worse than the last. If my Air Force survival training taught me anything, it was that your health would degrade as the survival continued. You want to do everything you can to prolong comfort and the ability to live, and a shelter is going to help you with that very thing. Plus, who knows what the weather is going to be like in an hour? That cloudless day could turn into a rainstorm and leave you soaking wet.

First and foremost, a shelter is going to help stave off hyper/hypothermia. The body’s temperature is generally around 98.6 degrees, too much of a shift in either direction (sometimes it only takes a raise or drop of 3-4 degrees), and basic functions are going to start to shut down. The shade will provide somewhere to cool down in extreme heat, and it will provide cover for wind, snow, and rain. You want to do everything in your power to maintain that core temperature. Once you start to lose or gain temperature, it can be difficult to get back to normal.

To do the above things, the shelter needs to be insulating and small enough to reflect body heat. Yet, we don’t want it too small that it’s uncomfortable. This leads into the next part. What kind of shelters can you make? A shelter can be as easy as finding a cave or overhang (natural shelter), or dragging a bunch of sticks next to a rock face, to pulling out a tarp and making a make-shift tent (man-made shelter). I’m going to talk about some of the common basic shelters: Lean-to, Wedge, and Tarp/Poncho.

Before you build a shelter, keep a couple of things in mind. Which direction is the wind coming from? It wouldn’t do to make the entrance to your shelter be same way the wind is blowing. It’s going to make for a blustery night. Is there water nearby? I wouldn’t’ suggest building too close to a lake or stream, who knows what’s going to happen while you are sleeping. A flash flood or heavy rain could cause the water to rise and the next thing you know, you’re swimming. What’s the wildlife situation? Do you need to build your shelter off the ground? Do you run the risk of predators moving in on you during the night? Keep these things in mind when you pick your spot.

The lean-to shelter is a simple shelter to create. It can be made out of natural materials or man-made materials. Basically, all you need is two base poles, a supporting horizontal pole, and then smaller sticks to create the roof. You can then pack on dead leaves, grass, pine tree boughs or whatever to try and create something that will block out the wind and rain. The roof will act as a reflector for body heat or fire heat. If you couple this shelter with a fire-reflecting wall (see below), it can be quite warm. However, keep in mind, this shelter isn’t wonderful. If the wind shifts it can ruin the whole set-up and turn the shelter into something useless.

The next shelter I want to talk about is the wedge. Similar to the lean-to, the wedge is very easy to make. It can be made of natural or man-made materials. It’s basically an A-frame type of shelter; one center beam is either lashed to a tree or pole, and then smaller sticks are placed along either side of the beam. You can use tree boughs or other debris, or a tarp to cover either side. This type of shelter will offer more protection than a lean-to, and will reflect more body heat. However, you’re limited on fire placement.

The third shelter I want to talk about the tarp/poncho shelter. If you are going out into the wilderness, carrying a tarp and or a poncho is an invaluable asset. It will keep you dry, you can use it to make a bag or backpack if need be, and they make great shelters. With such an item, the lean-to or the wedge can be created in the same manner, just substitute the branches or boughs with the tarp. The key to the tarp shelter is cordage. You’re going to need something to tie the tarp down. I recommend 550 paracord. It’s light and very strong. Plus, if you need to, you can remove the smaller strings from the inside of the cord for more tying options. I highly recommend taking a poncho with you into the wild. They fold up very small, are lightweight, and can save your life if other shelter-building materials are in low supply.

Finally, I want to address a fire reflector. A fire reflector is a wall of some sort. You can use a natural rock wall, make a wall out of sticks or stones (although be sure the stones are wet or placed far enough away, I’ve read that rocks can explode if heated up enough), or even use an emergency blanket (the silver ones that you always see in the store), just make sure you place the blanket far enough away from the fire so it won’t catch fire. The next step is to angle the reflector. Generally you will angle it 10-20 degrees from straight, and pointing away from your campsite. This will help reflect the heat in the right direction.

Below are some links to a couple of sites that talk about survival shelters in a little more detail. I also recommend practicing these techniques next time you are out camping. Practice makes perfect, and you don’t want to try this out for the first time in an actual survival situation.

Up next, food and water procurement in a survival situation, followed by the will to survive. Remember, there is still time to vote on what you would like to see in the fourth installment. 

Go here and vote. 
http://crlangille.weebly.com/1/post/2014/02/survival-mini-series.html


Feel free to vote on the other as well, just drop me comment on what that “other” is that you would like to know more about.

http://www.practicalsurvivor.com/shelter

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/shelters-2.php

I'm going to be writing a four-part mini-series on survival. Part 1 will be about shelter; how and why. Part 2 will be about food and water. Part 3 will be on the will to survive. That brings me to Part 4. Part 4 will be a bonus post where I'll discuss a few different topics. I want to cover topics that you, the readers, want to know about. Things that perhaps I didn't cover in the first three parts. Please vote below. I just put some topics there to get you started. If there is something you want me to talk about that isn't listed, feel free to put in in the "other" category.  I'll pick the three most mentioned topics. You'll have until I'm finished with Part 3 to vote.