Ray Mears Forest Survival Shelter

Wow!…This is the man.
His skills are perfectly tuned up to handle survival with just a knife and an axe. very good vid

Yeah this video is pretty B.A. It Makes me want to get out into the wild and fend for myself.

is a nice shelter but just for 2, 3 days
not for permanent purposes

yeah look this guy up on youtube he definatley knows what he is doing and in reality that is all that you need to survive even live comfortably a good axe and a good knife

With a few modifications this design could be made larger and put together for a more permanent shelter. I once made one that had plenty of room for 2 and their gear, and stayed in it for a month.

Yeah, most of these public figure survivalists just build 2-5 day shelters, but nothing for long term rain and cold snow. It takes more then that to stay for months.

really cool but that would only last for 2 or 3 days in tough weather.

NICE!

For a cold weather situation there are 2 thing you can do to vastly upgrade that shelter.

1. on the inside of the roof place a reflecting survival blanket on the slope. This will reflect the heat of the fire directly onto your bed. Added bonus is an small leaks in the roof will be channeled away from you.

2. Use a clear tarp or piece of Clear Plastic to make a “door” hanging down the front. This will help protect you from the wind, rain, blowing snow and hold in the heat reflected from the fire. (I prefer clear tarps v.s. the blue ones so I can see what is going on outside, they are also easier to camouflage or make visible by using the orange side of an emergency blanket.)

Just make sure your fire is far enough away so you do not melt your sheeting.

I was particularly impressed by the long log fire. Everyone seems to have this convention that a fire must be in a two foot circle.

Bravo Sir.

This dude is awesome! But I heard Bear Grylls ate his head…

This shelter offers protection from one direction…up. What about the sides and front. In the wilderness setting you would definately have to surround yourself better, especially if you plan to be there a while! The idea of putting the reflective material on the entire roof is a good one…his roof will definately leak and it would not last very long. However if it’s for a night that isn’t too windy, with lots of rain or snow I guess it would be ok. Heavy snow would melt on the roof and I guarantee you would be very cold and wet! Capturing more of the heat from the fire with at least two sides built like the roof would be a good idea.

i can see allot wrong with his shelter for one thing you don’t cut the limbs off the out side it gives you a good place to help holed the other limbs you have gotten off allot of other trees we live in the northweast and see allot of rain and snow so knowing how to build a shelter if you hike or ride is life saving don’t get me wrong his idea is sound but it would take a hell of allot more limbs to thatch that shelter as for fire putting it in the rain would be the worst idea it would go out and you would be screwed at 2 am trying to get it going agen

been there done that…..mears ant got shit on me…I practice this same technique three months out of the year during hunting season…going on thirty years now …..practice practice practice …then practice some more …..hone your skills at finding water making fire building shelter…OR DIE

A 4-hour plus process cut down into a 4-minute video makes it look simpler than it is.
Also, previous statements of needing as a more semi-permanent shelter echoed… modifications would be needed for a longer period durations, but it is a good start and gets the thought processes flowing.
The raised bed/floor also allows for gear storage underneath and other insulation items.

Ray Mears is awesome he shows good practical survival skills. He in Vermont with cold winters a basic debris hut works good for temporary shelter but to have something more permanent an earth lodge type shelter can not be beat it allows a indoor fire and the snow only adds insulation.