PAGE II
Natural Shelters
Natural shelters can be as simple as a recess under an overhanging ledge, a hollow chopped into the massed branches of a big downfall, a grove of trees out of the wind or, if the snow is deep enough, a trench that is roofed over with a poncho and overlaced with conifer boughs.
A thickly matted spruce tree, with its limbs draping to the ground, makes a terrific shelter. Just saw or break enough branches on the lee side to sit with your back to the trunk and close off the opening with branches.
As an extreme example of wilderness survival, more than one hunter has dispatched his horse and/or available game in order to crawl into the gutted carcass of the animal. Putting a twist within recent history is the tactic which two Idaho men shot each other's horses and waited out a blizzard inside the steaming body cavities in late fall of '92.
But such wisdom can be difficult to follow, even for adults. A pair of hunters had killed an elk in Montana's Little Belt Mountains on Halloween evening, tried to find their way back to the truck, panicked, plunged about in the dark until thoroughly fatigued, then separated from each other...and froze.
A year later, a pair of wilderness explorers near the Idaho/Montana border followed an identical blueprint for death. Make no mistake, these were men that were experienced woodsmen and hunters in their late thirties. Had they used their energy to construct a shelter before darkness fell, they would be alive today.
Fire !!
Fire is the most important survival tool after your personal wildeness knowledge, maintenance of calm and a positive attitude.
Second to shelter is the survival value of fire. Besides creating warmth, one of its most important benefits is drying clothes. Nothing brings on hypothermia more quickly than the wet clothes of someone who has been perspiring heavily in an attempt to get out of the wilderness.
Fire can serve as a signal, a means of melting snow, and a way of cooking food. Perhaps just as important, fire soothes nerves, builds confidence, and encourages the lost or injuried to stay in one place.
I have already covered matches but it is just as important to carry a couple of alternative fire starting devices such as butane lighters and maybe a modern day flint and steel device. Something in which to provide a steady flame as needed. A tube of fire starting paste works well, as does a short candle.
For many years, I carried a 20-minute highway flare during my years on the northern fringes of Alaska's Brooks Range and wondered if the extra weight was really worth it. After I fell partially thru the frozen rivers crust, believe me it was worth it.
With hypothermia gripping my remaining mental capabilities, shaking almost uncontrolably, my hands trembling so badly in the 30 degree standing outside temperature as I emptied my wilderness hunting pack out on the rivers bank, and in final desperation I heaped a small pile of dead branches together, with my gun belt, knife sheath, my maps, my hunting license and anything that would burn etc. and struck the fuse. The flames caught.
The short time of genuine heat provide me time to change partial clothing and more importantly in regaining my mental capabilities. I ended up burning almost everything except my rifle stock and Tiny (my Malamute) in order to survive. My falling through the ice ordeal is briefly outlined in my Even Wolves Dream www-site. http://www.oocities.org/Yosemite/Rapids/8017/index.html
Getting back to fire, Tinder is the foundation of any fire. Good sources include grass, moss, pine needles, and bark. A fuzz stick made of shaving slivers from a stick, but leaving them attached so that the stick comes to resemble a stock of wheat. As an extreme measure shaved body hair will burn rather quickly.
If the ground is wet, start your fire on top of the dry underside of a couple of logs. When a person is wet and cold this is no time in which to conserve fuel. A small fire will sap its strength just trying to dry out the ground. Build a big fire, and when you turn in for the night if that is possible under the circumstances, drag a couple of green logs onto the embers. If laid parallel to each other, the flames will lick up between them and burn for many hours.
I can remember when the old man and I ignited an entire spruce in order to survive a frigid frozen November night in the Yolly Bolly's..but that is another story all in itself....Late fall of '87.
Today's search and rescue teams, especially here in the northwest, aided by aerial reconnaissance and tracking dogs, act so quickly and cover ground so efficiently that few wilderness travelers who stay put after becoming lost and/or injuried will be forced to endure a second night in the open.
Above all please remember that the key to survival is using your head to get through the first night. It is the one survival tool that you can't do without.
Just For Starters
A good fire starting kit always includes three (3) sources of flame. The following is a simplified kit that should be carried in a ziplock bag of freezer strength, and included in your survival kit.
1.) A waterproof container filled with strike-anywhere "lifeboat" survival matches.
2.) A new butane lighter, preferably one with electronic ignition, and internal coil system, lights in gale force winds, and is waterproof.
3.) Several cotton balls, lightly coated with vaseline, packed in a 35mm film cannister.
4.) A handful of throughly dried popsicle sticks.
5.) A hand sized wad of steel wool.
6.) A tube of fire starter paste.
7.) A magnesium block with a striker.
8.) An inexpensive magnifying glass.
Remember fire is a chemical reaction that depends on oxygen, heat and fuel. Take one away and there is no fire. Air is seldom a problem unless you are experiencing a wind that can blow a fire out. The heat source can be a lighter, shavings from a magnesium block, sparks from flint and steel, steel wool touched to the terminals of a battery, the tightly focused beam of the sun through a magnifying glass, a watch crystal, or even a match.
For a fuel source we must again think in threes: this time, the three levels of combustion material such as tinder, kindling, and fuel...needed to get and keep a fire going.
Steel & Flint
This is the best method to light tinder if you do not have matches. Use the flint as near the tinder as possible and strike it with the back of the knife blade or a small piece of steel.
Strike downward so that the sparks will hit in the center of the tinder. When the tinder begins to smolder, fan, or blow it gently into a flame.
These sparks are formed by tiny bits of metal from the steel that are superheated to the igniting point of the tinder. Gradually add kindling to your tinder, or transfer the burning tinder to the base of your fire wood.
Hunter's Fire
This is a fire for the colder part of the year (oh where is Mary-Ellen when ya need her). This type of fire is generally good for cooking and general heating.
It is my recommendation that two hardwood bed logs a foot in width and three feet long. Place the logs on level ground as an air draft, caused by the slope, will make the logs burn too fast. Place in a "V" shaped position.
Place green sticks across both logs and place a crisscross pile of dry wood on the sticks and light. The burning wood will burn to coals and fall between the logs which will start to slowly burn on the inner sides. The narrow part of the "V" of the logs can be used for cooking.
For an all night fire place thick green logs across the bed logs and put night wood on them. The night wood will fall into the fire when the green logs are burnt. A more sophisticated fire is the Caterpillar Fire.
Magnesium Fire Block
Magnesium fire blocks can be purchased in all sporting goods stores or your favorite Army-Navy store.
The block is in aluminum which contains magnesium. You can cut or scratch, with a knife, shavings off the block which are ignited by striking the blade on the flint rod embedded on the edge of the block.
Many Types Of Fire
There are many many types of fire construction, most stemming from life of the native americans, the vikings and the early settlers.
To name a few without written definition are:
a.) Automatic Fire
b.) Signal Fire
c.) Winter Fire
d.) Fire Pouch
e.) Fire From Firearms
f.) Potassium Permanganate
g.) Caterpillar Fire
h.) Cattail Torch
i.) Birch Bark Torch
K.) Buffalo Chip Fire
l.) Platform Fire
Fire Lanterns:
a.) Tin Can Lantern
b.) Glass Bottle Lantern
c.) Hunters Lamp
Carrying Embers
Depending on your situation and the level of your fire starting supplies, it may be easier than you think to carry smoldering embers than to start another fire with no matches.
Containers that can be used are as follows:
a.) tin cans
b.) animal horn
c.) birch bark pouch
d.) hardwood box
It is recommended that should you choose to carry some live embers for what ever reason, that you fill the bottom of your container with dry moss, place the embers on the moss and cover with moss.
Now stay with me on this...Check the embers from time to time and blow on them if they seem to be losing strength. With a little practice, embers if taken care of, can be transported for a couple of days.
The moss limits the air reaching the embers and retards their burning but sufficient air has to reach the embers or they will go out. This method has been recorded and credited in saving several lives in past history when dealing with foul weather and injured parties.
Unusual Fuels
Some interesting thoughts. Any concentration of carbon, hydrogen, and methane can be used to make a fire. This can be dry peat moss, dry seaweed, animal dung in most geographical areas, bat dropping (use outdoors, in small quanities as bat dung is quite explosive and very flammable), animal oils, dry leaves, coal, or oil that seeps to the suface or saturated as tar sands.
On polar ice, or in areas where fuels are unavailable, blubber or animal fat is a source for fuel.
With great caution, when disabled, be it snowmachine, aircraft or vehicle, one might choose to use a mixture of gasoline and oil as a fuel. This should only be done as a last resort as in the (difference between life and death). One has to be very careful as to how you choose to ignite and feed the gasoline mixture.
We can use almost any plant for firewood, but do not burn wood, leaves or branches of any plant that can poison on contact.
Appreciate The Importance
You should appreciate the importance of fire and be knowledgeable as to the different methods of starting a fire, transporting a fire, and building a fire to fill your needs. I make it a point of keeping a pack of waterproof "lifeboat" matches on my person during wilderness travel.
Being able to build a fire, when needed, will increase your ability to survive in the wilderness. It is my recommendations that you build a fire as soon as you have a basic shelter. Rest assured, you can improve on your shelter, once you have a fire going, in the dark.
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