Seven Primitive Survival Shelters That Could Save Your Life

How To Make Survival Shelters

Body-Heat Shelters
In its simplest form, a shelter is nothing more than a shell that traps a pocket of dead air warmed solely by body heat. In tree belts, such shelters are constructed of decomposing leaf litter and other organic debris; in barren, polar regions, they are madeof snow. #1) Debris Hut
Heap up a big mound of duff and detritus from the forest floor, then excavate a pocket that is large enough to crawl into. After getting inside, partially block the doorway to minimize air circulation. If it isn’t cramped and dirty, you’ve made the air space too big for your body to heat it sufficiently.

How To Make Survival Shelters

#2) Quintze Hut
Properly constructed, this poor man’s igloo can be body-heated to above freezing on a 20-below day, higher if you light a candle. Step One Build up snow to a depth of at least 8 inches and pack it down to make a floor.
Step Two Heap loose snow onto the floor. Piling the snow over a backpack or mound of branches will let you create a hollow, which hastens the excavation process, but it isn’t necessary. Let the snow consolidate for an hour or more, until it is set up hard enough to form snowballs.
Step Three Tunnel through the mound at opposite ends to dig out the center efficiently, fill in the unused entrance, and crawl inside to shape the interior. Ideally, the quintze should be narrow at the foot end, with a bed long enough to lie down on, and just tall enough at the head end for you to sit up. The walls and roof need to be at least a foot thick (check this with a stick).
Step Four Poke out an air vent overhead and dig a well at the entrance for the cold air to settle into. Cut a snow block for a door. Glaze interior walls with a candle to prevent dripping.

How To Make Survival Shelters

#4) A-frame
The pitched roof of the A-frame bough shelter offers more protection against the wind than a lean-to and can still be heated by fire at the entrance. One drawback is that the occupant can’t lie down parallel to the fire for even warmth. Step One Lift one end of a log and either lash it or wedge it into the crotch of a tree. Tilt poles on either side to form an A-frame roof.
Step Two Strengthen and thatch the roof as you would a bough lean-to.

How To Make Survival Shelters

Enclosed Shelters
These take more time to build than open shelters (at least three hours), but your efforts will be doubly rewarded. Not only can the shelter be warmed by a small fire, reducing the need to collect a huge pile of wood, but the firelight reflects off the walls, providing cheery illumination for sitting out a long winter night. #5) Wickiup
This forerunner of the tepee remains the quintessential primitive shelter-“sturdy enough to blunt prevailing winds, weatherproof, quickly built for nomadic hunters, but comfortable enough to serve as a long-term home. It can be partially enclosed or fully enclosed and vented to permit an inside fire.
Step One Tilt three poles together in tripod form and bind them together near the top. If you can find one or more poles with a Y at one end, tilt the others against the crotch, eliminating the need for cordage.
Step Two Tilt other poles against the wedges formed by the tripod in a circular form and thatch, leaving a front opening and a vent at the top for smoke.

How To Make Survival Shelters

#6) Wigwam
A complex version of the wickiup, this is built with long, limber poles bent into a dome-shaped framework to maximize interior space. Step One Inscribe a circle and dig holes at 2-foot intervals to accommodate the framing poles.
Step Two Drive the butt ends of the poles into the holes and bend the smaller ends over the top. Lash or weave the tops together, forming a dome-shaped framework.
Step Three Lace thin green poles horizontally around the framework for rigidity.
Step Four Thatch the framework, leaving entrance and vent holes.

How To Make Survival Shelters

#7) Salish Subterranean Shelter
Used by Pacific tribes from Alaska to present-day California, pit shelters are impractical unless you have a digging implement, but they offer better protection from extreme heat and cold than aboveground shelters. Step One Dig a pit the circumference of the intended shelter to a depth of 3 feet.
Step Two Build a supporting tripod of poles, strengthening the framework with horizontally laced limbs.
Step Three Thatch the shelter, leaving a hole at the center to serve as both a laddered entrance and a smoke vent. Use earth removed from the pit to sod and insulate the shelter walls.

How To Make Survival Shelters

How to Make a Two-Strand Cord
Many plant materials, including grasses that resist breaking when bent and the inner barks of shrubs and willows, can make strong enough cordage to lash thatching onto shelters. Thin willow wands, flexible capillary tree roots, rawhide cut from animal skins, and sinew strands that encase animal muscle make stronger cord, suitable for snare traps, bowstrings, and bindings. Directions Holding the cordage material between your thumbs and first fingers, twist it to form a kink in the middle. Now twist each half separately in a clockwise direction, then pass them around each other in a counterclockwise direction as shown. (A strand can be composed of one or more fibers, depending upon the diameter of the cordage material available.) Weave in more strands for greater length.

How To Make Survival Shelters

Grass Thatching
Suitable for dome-shaped shelters, water-resistant grass mats can be formed by sewing to-gether bunches of similar size. (Longer -grasses can be cross-hatched and woven; overlap the ends irregularly to make a continuous warp and weft.) Lash thatching to support poles with rope or natural cordage.