How to Build Simple Shelters

Short of making fire, the most important survival skill you will ever learn is to make a shelter from the elements. Though you may have time to find permanent natural shelters on many terrains, in two specific types of terrain you might not live long enough to complete your search. In a desert the longer that you're out in the sun, the quicker your body will overheat and lose moisture. In heavy snow conditions the longer that you're out in the open the faster the winds will leach the warmth from your body and kill you from hypothermia. For that reason this guide will explain how to make simple shelters in heavy snow or snowstorm conditions as well as in desert conditions.

Things You’ll Need:
Digging Tool

Poncho or Sheet

Cutting Tool

Building A Snow Tree Shelter
Step 1:
Look for a good sized evergreen tree with decent branch coverage.

Step 2:
Dig the snow out around the tree until you've got to an appropriate depth or you hit ground. Create a pit surrounding the tree at least five feet in diameter.

Step 3:
Pack the snow you've dug up into the surrounding pit walls to avoid cave-ins. If possible, mound the snow up to increase the height of the wind break. The key to survival in snowy conditions is to get away from the wind. Though the snow may be at freezing level, the wind-chill factor is much lower than that and will quickly chill you to the bone. Once you're chilled there's really no way to get back the warmth you've lost.

Step 4:
Cut branches from the evergreen that hang as high as you can reach and drape them over the top of the pit to create a loose roof. Leave the low hanging branches on the tree, they form a natural windbreak and act as partial protection from the snow.

Step 5:
Huddle in the center of the pit and wait for the snow to let up enough for you to be able to find your way to more permanent shelter and safety. It may seem tempting, but do not under any circumstances allow yourself to fall asleep in the cold. When you sleep your body temperature, respiration, and heart rate all decreases. If that happens in below freezing conditions there is a good chance you will die in your sleep.

Building Shelter In Desert Conditions.
Step 1:
Look for a nearby outcropping of rocks, a valley between sand dunes, or a depression in the earth which you can take advantage of. The depression need not be too deep, but it should be a little longer than your body and about a foot wider than your shoulders.

Step 2:
Use your digging tool to deepen the depression you've found. The trench you dig should be at least two feet deep and a little longer than your body. It need not be of uniform depth. The area where your torso and upper body should be as deep as possible to insulate from the heat of the sun, but your legs and feet do not need so much protection, so the trench can angle upward. This will save some time and effort.

Step 3:
Drape your poncho, clothes, or sheets over the top of the trench, leaving room near where your feet will go to crawl in and out. Stretch it as taught as possible to keep it from touching you when you are in your shelter. Anchor the poncho down on three sides of the trench with any nearby rocks. Sand will work too if no rocks are close by.

Step 4:
Sprinkle a loose layer of sand over the top of the poncho to add further insulation. Try to cover the poncho entirely without collapsing it. On the one hand the more sand you pile on the better it is at preventing heat energy from the sun getting to you, on the other hand the increased weight makes the covering more likely to collapse.

Step 5:
Crawl into your shelter and try to rest. During the daylight hours this shelter can reduce the surrounding temperature by as much as 40 degrees Fahrenheit. When night falls get out of your shelter, take your tools and poncho with you, and try to find help, water, or more permanent shelter.

Tips & Warnings
It should be noted that these shelters are not made for comfort; they are a quick way to get out of hostile elements to aid in your survival.

How to Build a Fire Without Matches

One of the most important survival skills you will ever learn is how to make a fire. Depending on what materials you have with you this may be easy or it may take more than an hour. Should you find yourself lost, alone, or somewhere out in the woods with no way to call for help you should start a fire immediately, regardless of the difficulties involved. The seven most dangerous things to a human being out in the wild are: temperature, thirst, hunger, fatigue, boredom, anxiety, and injury. By building a fire you keep warm, can cook food, may sleep safely from predators, give yourself something to do, and quell your fear or anxiety by keeping yourself too busy to dwell on the situation. In a single action you've negated five of those seven dangers and drastically increased your chances of survival. Here is a guide on how to start a fire should you not have matches, lighter, or a fire making kit.

Things You’ll Need:
Rawhide or Leather Cord

Kindling

Thick Dry Stick

Or

Magnifying Glass or A Lens

Kindling

Or

Stick

Kindling

Curved Sticks

Stone

Or

Fine Steel Wool

9 Volt Battery

Kindling

Making A Fire With Steel Wool
Step 1:
Take a piece of steel wool and run the contacts of a nine volt battery across it. The wool wire will conduct electricity in the same way as the filament in a light bulb.

Step 2:
Take care not to burn your fingers as patches of the steel wool smolder and turn red.

Step 3:
Blow on the smoldering patches and feed the wool some dry leaves or grass until a flame catches.
Step 4:
Carefully lower the wool and flame to the ground and feed it more kindling. Be careful not to smother the fire by dumping too much dry material onto the flame at once. As the fire grows slowly place sticks and larger branches against the flame until you have a full size fire.

Making Fire With A Leather Cord
Step 1:
Find a sturdy length of dry wood at least a foot long.

Step 2:
Loop your leather or rawhide cord under the stick. A shoelace is too roughly textured and will simply rip apart. But a leather shoelace would work just fine

Step 3:
Keep some kindling near at hand as you won't have much time to look for some when you will need it.

Step 4:
Hold the stick firmly to the ground by standing with one foot on either end.

Step 5:
Saw the cord back and forth so it cuts sharply into the stick. Continue this for several minutes. The stick will become dry and eventually it will blacken. You should smell smoke.

Step 6:
Grab up the kindling as soon as you see sparks or embers and touch it near, but not directly on, the sparks. Blow softly to fan the sparks. Eventually a spark will catch and the kindling will ignite.

Step 7:
Feed the flame kindling gradually, being careful not to smother it. Increase the size of the twigs and sticks you use until the fire finally catches on a large piece of wood.

Step 8:
Place more wood around the flaming branch to get the fire to spread. You should have no trouble keeping the fire fed from there.

Making Fire Using A Lens
Step 1:
Gather a bed of kindling. Look for dry moss, twigs, leaves, and grass. The kindling must be completely dry or it will not catch fire.

Step 2:
Use a magnifying glass or glasses if you wear them, to focus the sun's rays on the pile of kindling.

Step 3:
Blow on the kindling lightly when it begins to smoke and blacken.

Step 4:
Feed more kindling and small branches to the small flame that should arise.

Step 5:
Place larger branches near the fire to gradually let them catch alight. From there you should have no problems keeping a good sized fire lit.

Making A Fire With A Bow Drill
Step 1:
Look for a short, straight, sturdy twig about six inches long. Gather kindling, a flat length of wood, a curved branch about a foot long, and a stone or piece of wood with a round depression in it.

Step 2:
Remove one of your shoelaces and tie it tightly to both ends of the curved stick. You've made a bow drill.

Step 3:
Loop the straight twig into the string of the bowdrill.

Step 4:
Place the bottom of the twig firmly against the flat piece of wood and hold the stone on top of the twig's other end with your off hand.

Step 5:
Draw the bow back and forth, making the twig spin in place. Start out slowly to make sure nothing comes loose and then gradually speed up. Over the course of about ten minutes the flat piece of wood should blacken and smoke.

Step 6:
Place kindling all around the spinning twig and continue to draw the bow back and forth until sparks begin to jump and land on the kindling.

Step 7:
Blow on the kindling lightly to get the sparks to catch fire. When this happens simply feed the flame more dry vegetation until the fire spreads to the piece of wood under the kindling. From there you can add larger branches until you have a roaring fire.

Tips & Warnings
It’s best to build your fire in an area protected from the wind. Strong wind will blow out the flames of your fire before it has a chance to grow.
Don't try any of these techniques indoors or in an enclosed space. This is an extreme fire hazard.