Wilderness Survival Skills - The Complete Online Guide

In the event of a long-term catastrophe, rescuers may not be speeding to your location anytime soon. For security and survival, consider evacuating to a wilderness area. Here, you can hunt and forage, build a wood fire for heat and cooking, and avoid the chaos of the city.

Below you'll find detailed notes gleaned from many sources, including Bradford Angier's How to Stay Alive in the Woods, Matt Stein's When Technology Fails, Myke Hawke's Green Beret Survival Manual, Bear Grylls' Man vs. Wild TV series, and the websites listed in the gray box below right. Feel free to copy and paste any page on this website into a text file to print out. (Note: You may need to change the font from white to black if using MS Word or other applications.)

FieldandStream.com

Immediate Priorities

In any survival situation, first determine your priorities, then act calmly and methodically. Bear Grylls uses this memory aid: "Please Remember What's First" Which translates:

P for Protection: Be sure to equip yourself with tools to stave off animal or human predators, extreme weather and other threats.

R for Rescue: When lost, devise a plan for getting help, whether by setting a signal fire, leaving signs on the ground, or writing "SOS" where it can be seen from the sky. (Of course, in a doomsday scenario you may prefer to travel by stealth. )

W for Water: Locating water within 24 hours is essential, since your survival without it is limited to about three days.

F for Fire and Food: Building a fire provides warmth, protection and a way to sterilize germs in food and water. While you can survive a couple weeks without eating, you'll make better progress on a full stomach.

Once these priorities are addressed, you can turn to other matters, including shelter.

Building a Shelter

The easiest and initial approach to constructing a refuge is to use what's already provided in nature. It might be any of the following:

a cave or rock overhang
a deadfall of branches beside a tree,
a clump of boulders

These arrangements fall under the category of a lean-to shelter. Once you've scouted out some existing features, all you need do now is scavenge additonal material to enhance it. This could include logs, branches, palm fronds, vines etc. Be sure to check for insect and animal activity (e.g. the cave may be a bear's den) before deciding on a spot to pitch camp.

Another important decision involves where to place the entrance to your shelter. Here you might factor in wind direction, snow drift, the sun's path, or the potential for an avalanche. It's also a good idea, whenever possible, to provide for a second, escape route from the shelter in case of attack.

Once the main structure is set up, you can use leaves and soil to build walls, a roof and ground cover to provide insulation, privacy and comfort. Generally speaking, the more insulation you have, the better, especially on the ground. You may not realize it, but cold-damp air rises up into a body in no time at all. If the topography has high and low parts to it, pick a high spot, since the cold, heavy air accumulates at the lower elevations.

If you decide to build a shelter from scratch, here are a few options:

A-frame structure: Two A-shaped braces with a log connecting provide a skeleton over which you'll lay branches and other covering. For this job, you'll need lashing, which can be rope, paracord, vines or clothing cut into ribbon-sized lengths.

Boy scout training typically includes A-frame construction.
Photo: Stuttgart Military Community

Teepee: As shown in the illustration above, you can lash three seven-foot logs tightly together on one end. Then insert and tie a dozen or more poles to this tripod and start weaving in the branches. If necessary, you can brace the structure on the ground by piling up stones or rocks in a circle around it.

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At left, a hybrid teepee-A-frame shelter. At right, a nicely camoflaged shelter braced by log. Photo credits: Bushcraft Plus (left) and U.S. Army.

Platform: To get yourself off the ground (especially in the jungle or alligator habitat), create four elevated corners over which you can lay logs, branches and matting for your bed. A platform is generally used in combination with another structure (natural or manmade), providing walls and a roof. As a base, you can either tie together three-foot-long logs into tripods, build up piles of flat rocks, or tie other materials together to give you the right elevation, as shown in the photo below.

Treehouse: Often an easier option to accomplish than it would initially appear, survivalists prefer it because staying high off the ground and hidden is sometimes necessay. Look for two side-by-side branches in one tree, or a single branch in 2-3 trees. From there, all you need to do is wedge (or attach with cordage) logs between these posts, giving you the base of a platform. You can place slats across the logs, and then pile soft materials on top of these. Alternatively, you can weave several vines together into a sort of hammock. Once it's complete, est the structural integrity of this structure thoroughly, and consider how you'll move around it in the dark. You may even need to tie yourself into your bed to keep from falling over the side.

To make a treehouse easier to access from the ground, pound some sticks into the trunk to use as steps. Alternatively, you can fashion a climbing ladder out of vines and sticks. For maximum security, be sure pull the ladder up once you're aloft to keep intruders out.

Tarp Tent: If you have a rain poncho, large garbage bag, sheet of plastic, or cloth, you can create a tent by running a string between two trees, and then drop the tarp across. Secure the ends on each side with more string (i.e. rope or vines), or with rocks.

In this variation of a tarp tent, a pole at the entrance is used in combination with paracord to frame the tarp. Photo: asthecrowflies.org.

Hammock: This quick shelter requires weaving together some vines or ropes that are wide enought to hold your body safely. (You can also try cutting several long slits in a bamboo pole.) A rope on either end secures the hammock to the trunks. If you expect rain, you also have to construct some form of cover on the branches above you, as shown in the photo below.

willowhavenoutdoor.com

Snow Shelters

Always erect these with your entrance at a right angle to the wind. This will prevent snow piling up and blocking your exit. You must also be mindful of the potential for avalanche. Here are three options:

Snow roof over two rocks: Build the roof, then throw water over the snow to harden it. Use evergreen boughs for flooring. Light a fire in front, and then wait a half hour before occupying it.

Dig a shelter in a snow bank: Create a sleeping ledge close to the roof, with a cold well alongside the ledge to catch the colder air. (See drawing below.) This dwelling space should be about three times your size. Smooth the inner roof above the ledge to keep it from dripping water on top of you later on. Sleep on a tarp, pine boughs or other material.

Snow house: Pile a huge mound of snow into the shape of an igloo, then cut out the interior. Use a pole to poke a chimney hole down through the top. Burn a small fire inside to solidify the walls before you move in.

Notice how the sleeping area is placed on a shelf, with a lower area below it. This takes advantage of the rule in nature that cold air sinks, warm air rises. The shaded area represents the snowpack. Diagram: Rick Curtis, Outdoor Action Program, Princeton University.

How to make a soft mattress

First scoop out some curved holes in the ground to accommodate your shoulder and hip bones. Then lay out young, heavily-needled boughs of balsam, birch or pine. Or you can use pine needles, moss, ferns, or marsh hay. Lay the branches, beginning from the head of your new mattress, and move downward. Remember to turn the branch bottoms up, which is the opposite of how they hang on a tree.

Major Shelter Considerations

Make sure your location isn't on a game trail.
Look for other signs of trouble, such as stream grooves (indicating water run-off or flash flooding), tide lines (if you're on a beach) rodent holes, fresh animal dung, ant mounds, etc.

If you're within 100 yards of an alligator habitat, or in a jungle where snakes, reptiles or poisonous insects are common, it's mandatory that you construct your shelter several feet off the ground.

Where animal or human predators are a problem, construct a thorn bush fence around your perimeter.

Be sure to scan the surrounding terrain for a potential avalanche, flooding, rockfall or falling tree limbs in the event of a storm.

At right, a shelter waterproofed with interlocking pine branches.
Photo: wilderness-discovery.co.uk.

Where rain is an issue, ditch the shelter (i.e. dig a trench) so that the water flows around it. Trenched pathways should be dug directly below your roof to catch the run-off. To avoid a twisted ankle, fill the trench with rocks wherever foot traffic is likely to cross it.

For waterproofing, use bark (especially birch), low spruce and fir branches. Try to interlock everything lattice-style. Remember to extend each higher thatched roof layer over the next lower layer.

When using brush and leaves for bed matting, roofs or walls, keep in mind that insects may be lurking within the material. To get around this problem, light a torch or use your campfire to heat and smoke them out. Obviously, you want to do this away from the shelter site.

Never burn gas in a tent or other shelter without adequate ventilation. For that matter, don't hunker down for the night inside a vehicle with the engine running and the windows shut. Carbon monoxide is odorless and its effects may be undetectable until after you've passed out.

Remember, elevating your bed is essential to avoiding poisonous insects and reptiles. It also adds insulation from the cold air and damp rising up from the ground.

In the tropics, or in wooded areas during the spring, mosquitos make rest difficult and can cause malaria or another illness. If you don't have access to mosquito netting, look for alternative ways to minimize bites, such as rubbing mud on your skin or wearing double layers. The insects are attracted to body heat, standing pools, and the color blue. They also tend to avoid breezy areas.

In the desert or snow, you may need to dig down into the ground or snow in order to keep cool (in the case of high heat) or warm (in the case of extreme cold). Look for the softest ground and dig with stones or other tools to prevent cuts and scrapes on your hands, which might get infected.

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Please note: A wilderness expedition can be dangerous or life-threatening. Always consult a professional outdoors expert before undertaking one. Whenever possible, avoid solo ventures and travel with a partner. Discuss any first aid or medical issues beforehand with your health care provider. When doing research, be sure to consult multiple sources to insure accurate information.

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Finding and Disinfecting Water: Page 2

Food and Cooking: Page 3

Other Survival Topics: Page 4

Wilderness Navigation

First Aid

Mega-Disaster Planner

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