After food and water, building a shelter for survival is one of the most important skills you can master. You don't want to leave yourself exposed to the elements – or to a predator.
The last thing you want to have happen to you in a survival situation is to be caught without any way to escape the rain, wind, and dangers that exist in the wild. One of the most common shelters you can build almost anywhere is a simple lean-to.
To achieve this goal, you will need to find a tree to act as your foundation structure that the shelter will lean against. Then, gather the materials you will be building the shelter out of, such as larger sticks and branches.
You may be using readymade materials such as a tarp to help you with this. But you also want to know how to create a shelter without that luxury. Instead, you will need to use large leaves, vines and other natural debris that can cover the sticks and provide shelter from wind and rain.
You can even build a shelter out of snow. These are known as Quinzee Snow Shelters, and you will basically be creating a small dome or cave that allows you to stay warmer than if you were exposed to the outside elements.
If you want to take it one step further, you may want to see what it will be like if you have nothing on hand but a pocket knife and paracord bracelet, and build a shelter from scratch that you sleep in overnight.
This can be a lot of fun for families with smaller children who want to be involved in the outdoor survival process. It's also important that you practice building survival shelters with other limited tools, not just from scratch.
For example, the knife and cord of some sort can help you. you may even want to have everyone in your family practice assembling and disassembling a camping tent, because not everyone knows how to do this quickly and easily.
When you’re working from scratch, you can use step-by-step instructions you find online or create something you feel will be sturdy and durable. Keep in mind that you may want to pick your bug out location based on the survival shelter materials you can find there.
Going to a barren area with no natural shelter items will leave you tired and frustrated. This will be a long process if you want to build something that truly will protect you, so start early in the day and try to have it completed before sundown, just as you’d hope to do in a survival event.
Until Next Time
Dominus Owen Markham