INDIVIDUAL SECURITY: Real security depends upon your enemy never knowing of your existence. The average clown stomping into the wilderness with a heavy firearm and a chip on his shoulder hasn't a chance. Come on, few individuals are trained in military or paramilitary skills, and the outcome of a shoot-out is at best up to dumb luck.
Keeping a low profile is a much better bet. Think of yourself as a spy infiltrating behind enemy lines and act accordingly. Be aware of your surroundings and don't silhouette yourself at every ridge-top. Keep the chatter down as sound travels in open country. That's one reason I recommend small, smokeless fires and quiet weapons, the loudest being a .22. A high- powered rifle shot can be heard for miles, especially over flat land and water. If you have a fondness for a certain big-bore firearm and have enough hands to carry it and its ammo, go ahead and take it along. Just don't use it unless you are sure that it won't attract attention to your group or as a last line of defense. We are talking survival here, and the argument that you need a seven millimeter magnum rifle for mountain sheep won't hold water as you won't be taking your group into that kind of country to survive anyway as there is plenty of game in the forest. Neither would the trip after such a beast be worth the effort. Most food animals such as deer and elk could be killed with a rock. In fact, in forest areas, you are lucky to keep their hoof prints off the hood of your car. The animals have been so protected lately that they are reaching vermin status in most parts of the country. You can't not find them close at hand. You want a deer? Leave the lid off your trash can. Better fence your garden too...
Upon several occasions last summer, we narrowly escaped death by charging elk on the highway. I don't mean one elk, I mean herds of the things. One time, we about skinned off our tires trying to stop as a bull elk darted across the road in front of us. Then no sooner than we were stopped, a herd ( I counted 17) came thundering after him. One leaped over the hood of the pickup. On another occasion while traveling on a gravel road back in the woods, we encountered another herd milling about the road, bulls, does and calves. They were like cattle or sheep in Wyoming. We sat there looking at them and they at us. Were they afraid of us? NO. I could have downed several of them with a pistol, a bow or a club for that matter. Finally, we had to blow the horn and flash the lights to clear them out of the way. They didn't run either, they just slowly walked into the woods.
Increase your security by blending into the scenery instead of making yourself a target. Read a couple of books on stealth, a couple of good spy novels should do. The idea is to get where you are going in one piece. Once there on your camp site, play it just as safe. Try not to attract attention. Make your camp blend in. Think Cammo! Avoid bright colors, noise and smoke. As always, the most dangerous time is at night, so if you have a group, post a guard or two in the dark hours, especially just before dawn as that is the best time for attack and the time of deepest sleep. Never operate on the fortress principle as that was proved useless centuries ago. It is better to spread out a bit. That way, no one can attack everyone in your party at once. Pitch your tents in the trees near the edge of a clearing instead of in the middle of it. The same holds true at a lake or stream. Keep away from the object of attention, and make yourselves hard to get.
SHELTER: To begin with, you'll have your tents and whatever you might have built upon your chosen site. However, in most cases you'll need more permanent housing. Learn to think like a pioneer not an architect. A first, you'll need a cabin, a smokehouse, a root cellar and a barn if you are going to keep any livestock. You'll also want to put up some kind of a fence around your digs to keep your animals from wandering away and other things from wandering in. If you are not careful, deer and elk will dine on your delectables without even so much as a word of thanks.
At first, it's best to think small as at this point a grandiose plan will most likely fail for reasons of inundation, waning interest and lack of hands and material. If it isn't already on you, winter will surely come and the idea is to get inside, out of the elements as soon as possible. Your basic planning should have already been done and your choices of building materials already made. If you have already stashed some plastic sheeting and tar paper, building wire, nails and staples, you are ahead of the game. If not, then you will have to do with what is at hand. Whatever you undertake, make sure that you can do it in a short time, say a couple of weeks. The quicker the better.
The easiest thing, of course, is to move into a handy cave. Barring that, depending upon the nature of your chosen environment and skills, you could build a soddy, a tar paper shack, a grass shack, a wattle-and- daub shack, an adobe house, or a log cabin. Don't laugh, people have lived in all of these before and will likely live in them again. Whatever your choice of materials, build the main structure first, and keep it simple. A one room house is better than a no room house.
Many of the more primitive (smarter?) cultures built round houses because of their ease and speed of construction. Also the fact that there are no corners to worry about and no squaring to do is very attractive. Then due to the fact that there are no corners, there are no stress points to crack and there is no wasted space. Heating is more even when a central fire is used. All in all, there are many advantages to a round house, so many in fact that I'll cover building one in detail here and now. When you see how easy it is, you'll be hard pressed to become involved in building anything else, at least for a first house. Oh, the best thing about this house is that there is no mortgage.
BUILDING A ROUND HOUSE: Note, once you get the idea, measurement can be adjusted to your size and need. If you are in snow country, use a little heavier supports and beams. The specifications given here will work for most people in temperate climate. If this house sounds too big, you can cut down to a 8 or ten foot radius. I wouldn't make it too much higher as it's hard to heat a room with a high ceiling. Heat rises, and the more volume above your head, the less heat will be available to warm your body. Too many doors and windows will also make your house hard to heat.
Find a piece of high ground that is near level and has about a 12 inch diameter tree growing on it. Clear the ground around the tree and cut off the tree at about 9 feet above the ground, using your bucksaw. The tree is your center pole. Now, grab a stick and tie a piece of cord around it, measure out about 12 feet of free line plus enough to make a loose loop around the tree. Pull the line taught, twelve feet from the tree, place one end of your stick on the ground, and walk around the tree, keeping the line taught. What you have done is make a simple string compass and drawn a 12 foot radius circle on the ground around the tree. Now come back and deepen that scratch in the ground so you won't lose track of it, because that is the perimeter line of your house. When finished, you will have a house 24 foot wide at any point. You will have about 452 sq. feet of floor space and enough room in which to turn around and store your stuff. A small steel or clay stove will easily heat it, and you will be comfortable.
SUPPORTS: Next, pick out and cut some nice, straight 6 inch saplings and cut them off at about 12 feet for ease of handling. There are thousands of these in the mountains and valleys. They look like tall, straight spears, reaching straight for the sky. There are few branches, and they are perfect for your use. These will be your wall supports or studs. Next, dig a hole about 2 feet deep every 6 feet around your circle and insert one of the saplings in each, blocking it plumb, vertical. Use a 6 foot piece of line to measure the distance between. Tie a weight to one end of the line to make a plumb bob to keep your supports vertical. Use a small block of wood to keep the bob away from the post. Easy no?
Now, mark a line around your center pole at about 7 feet above ground and cut your sapling posts off level with this mark. The top of the center pole will now be 2 feet higher than your saplings. You can use a dollar line level and a piece of string to get your posts level. Next, cut 6 inch sapling beams just long enough to fit center to center on top of your vertical posts and spike or tie them on. Affix the beams to the posts very well so that they will be strong and your house wont fall down. That is important. Whether your house is exactly plumb and level is unimportant.
THE ROOF: Next come the rafters. These will also be 6 inch saplings. Lay them but end on the center pole and thinner end at the outer wall. You will have to "V" the ends so that they will all fit. You can do this with your bucksaw or your ax. Leave plenty of overhang, 4 feet or more so that you will have a porch all around your house. Line them up right on the joint above the verticals and lash them on well. Too much is better than not enough. When the last one is in place, you should be able to visualize your house. Now fill in verticals at the three foot mark, between the main verticals, buts in holes, and cut and tied at the tops. Your house is getting stronger by the moment. Do the same with the rafters, filling in between, right on top of the three foot verticals.
DOORS AND WINDOWS: Now, decide where you want your doors. One door should face south to gain the benefit of the sun in the southern sky that is the beauty and glory of the day. The other should be in the North to take advantage of the afternoon cool shade. Place lintels or cross beams between two posts, one for each door. They should be about 6 feet above ground. Measure up 6 feet from the ground on one post, then use your line level to find the level mark on the other one. Don't use the ground as it probably won't be level. You want to keep your doors and windows as level as possible so your doors and windows will be square as possible. Then something might actually fit in them like a door or window. If you can find pre-hung doors or used windows, use them if not make your own, screens too.
Now decide where you want your windows and place the headers, level. You can then measure down to place the sills. Actually two windows should be enough, one on the East and one on the West. These should give you good cross ventilation. You'll cover the windows in winter anyway.
Next, tie or spike on 2 inch horizontal and vertical saplings about every 12 inches between the 6 inch posts, completing the wall framework. Do the same with the roof. You do not have to cut these, merely bend them around the structure in long lengths, cutting them only when they cross doors or windows.
Next weave in 1/2 to 1 inch branches to fill in between the 12 inch squares of your major framing. What you are doing is making a big basket. Do the same with the roof.
THE COVERING: Now, you are ready for your covering. You can use your tar paper and or plastic sheeting covered with grass thatching to make a solid house. If you are in pine tree country, use pine boughs as a covering. There is bound to be something to use as thatching. Be sure to tie it down well. If you have a source of good clay or mud, you can cover the outer surface with it, making the house even tighter. You can just spatter the mud on and trowel it in. Make it as thick as you like within reason. Don't use clay or mud on the roof though, as it is too heavy. Just thatching will do. The plastic sheeting will keep out the water and the thatching will protect the plastic. Oh, use the weed cutter to cut the grass for thatching. In the wild, grass grows 2 to 4 feet high.
FINISH WORK: By now you should have the idea, and covered frameworks can be made for doors and window shutters. If you have clear plastic, you can make windows that will let the light in or open them for breeze. Use leather or skin for hinges. Study books on primitive housing. Polynesian housing might be of interest as they fill frameworks with tightly woven grass or palm fronds. There are not many palm fronds in the forests, but the idea is sound, just substitute materials. You haven't the time to do much tight weaving right now, but you'll have lots of time over the winter...
Once the house is up, partitions and shelves can be fashioned as needed. However, the more unobstructed the house is, the more evenly it will heat. Sheds can be built off the main house and extension rafters can be affixed to the perimeter wall. The first one should be a wood shed. Once the house is built, a supply of wood should be laid in for the winter. Believe me, this is important. Read Henry Thoreau's book, "Waldren Pond," for some ideas. Remember, all of this has been done before and will be done again.
