This Information Could Save a Life
If one ever finds themselves lost in the woods, a survival situation can quickly occur. Should this situation occur there will be many needs that have to be considered. One of these is shelter.
To handle this need, one must know how to build a basic survival shelter using the most minimal of tools available.
The tools needed for this project:
- a rope
- a tarp/plastic/waterproof or water resistant material
- a tree or pole
- rocks or sticks
First, one needs to have good quality rope to build a basic survival shelter with such as is discussed in this article. There are many kinds of survival shelters but this article is going to examine how to build a tarp shelter.
This rope will be used to secure the shelter to the ground and nearby trees or poles. In order to build this shelter rope is essential but is not the only thing needed.
Next one will need a good tarp or piece of plastic or other waterproof or water resistant material. This will form the roof of the shelter. Although one may have a tarp and rope, another piece is still needed.
One needs to have a good tree or pole as the next piece to make this shelter. A strong tree that doesn’t look like it will fall or a good pole that is secure in the ground will work well. This is needed as a point to hang the tarp from. Now let’s get to the nitty gritty of this project.
The first step in building a tarp shelter is going to be to secure a length of rope to one mid point on the side of the tarp. This is going to be the highest point in shelter. After securing the rope to this side one can move to the next step.
The second stage is to secure the rope that is at the mid point of the tarp to a high point on the tree or pole about 3 to 7 feet off of the ground depending on the width of the tarp.
It is essential that the tarp can form an umbrella like teepee around this point so there needs to be plenty of tarp material left hanging around this point. As soon as this is done one can move on with the project.
The third and final stage of the project is to spread the tarp out in a teepee shape around the main point where the tarp is attached to the tree. One doesn’t want to be so far out as to open a wide open space on the side but to be far enough out to allow oneself a space under the tarp to comfortably sleep and still get into and out of the shelter.
At this point the shelter needs to be secured to the ground either by placing rocks on the edge that is along the ground or by using sticks to drive as stakes into the ground through the tarp. This should begin to finish the project.
Now that the shelter is built. One should pile up a bed of warm materials on the ground in the shelter. This can be straw, grass, tree limbs, or anything else one finds that they can somewhat comfortably sleep upon. This is the final stage of the shelter project.
Hopefully one will never have to use this information. That said though if one finds oneself in a survival situation, knowing this information could save a life. Good luck with the project should one decide to try it out or ever have to use it.