Survival Tips
from Outdoor Life Magazine
The following valuable survival tip was featured in a brochure that accompanied a subscription renewal form from Outdoor World Magazine. For more tips, visit www.outdoorlife.com
Build a Bivouac:
Bivouacs reflect a fire's warmth, serve as a windbreak and provide overhead shelter in emergency situations. They can be erected without tools in an hour, if you are in an area with downed timber-less if you have a makeshift ridgepole such as a leaning or partly fallen tree to support the boughs.
Step One: Wedge a ridgepole into the lower forks of two closely growing trees (one end can rest on the ground, if necessary), or support each end of the ridgepole with a tripod of upright poles lashed together near the top.
Step Two: Tilt branches or poles against the ridgepole to make a frame. To strengthen it, interlace boughts through the poles at right angles.
Step Three: Thatch the lean-to with slabs of bark and/or leafy or pine-needle branches. Chink with sod, moss or snow to further insulate.