These five shelters could save your life.
No matter what type of outdoor adventures you enjoy, it helps to have at least a few survival skills handy in case you ever end up stranded or lost in the wilderness. In an ideal scenario, you will have plenty of tools, food and supplies to survive the elements and eventually get back to civilization.
However, things do not always work out that well, which is why you must make do with what nature provides. This is where some basic bushcrafting skills and knowledge can go a long way.
One of our favorite bushcraft YouTubers, Survival Lilly put together an excellent compilation video that shows how to construct five basic survival shelters in just 17 minutes. She starts with a simplistic shelter made with minimal tools and for when you cannot build a fire and ends with a more elaborate long-term A-frame shelter. You never know, a little bit of basic knowledge could help save your life one day.
These shelters are all incredibly simple to put together using materials that can be found in almost any wooded area of North America or Europe. The big emphasis with most of these was on keeping out wind and retaining heat, which is always important when you are in a colder environment. These shelters are a good thing to keep in mind as the summer gives way to fall and hunting seasons.
Some of the ideas, like the heated floor are downright clever and a great way to help keep morale up when you are trying to survive. A large part of any wilderness survival is entirely in your head. The more comfortable you can make things, the better your odds of making it through a dangerous situation.
Thanks Lilly, for the quick crash course on simple shelters that anyone can build. It may help to practice building a shelter like this in your spare time, just to be safe. We hope we never have to use the information provided here, but in case we do, we will be glad we brushed up on these skills.
For more outdoor content from Travis Smola, be sure to follow him on Twitter and check out his Geocaching and Outdoors with Travis YouTube channels.
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