If you always imagined a survival shelter as nothing more than a pile of pine needles and dried leaves that you wriggle into like a caterpillar, you need to level up your game… Primitive shelters can prove surprisingly effective, spacious, and comfortable.
One that every prepper needs to know about is the wickiup. Often confused with the teepee, the wickiup is similar but smaller and much quicker and easier to construct.
Best of all, you can even make a small fire inside it, and you might not need any tools to build it. This is one skill you’ll want in your survival repertoire, so keep reading, and I’ll tell you everything you need to know to make your own.
What You’ll Need
Pretty much everything you need to build a good wickiup shelter can be found in or near a forest. You don’t necessarily need any tools or fasteners, though a couple of mainstays will help. Chances are good you’ve got them in your pack right now!
Saw or Hatchet: Helpful, as ever, for bringing down the branches you’ll need to build with or trimming fallen ones to the right length.
Branches: The primary component in building the wickiup. These should all be about the same length, about 8 feet. Longer is okay, but keep in mind that the taller you make the shelter, the harder it will be to heat, though you can enjoy more room on the inside.
Insulation: Dried leaves, dried grass, pine boughs, and other materials. You will pack these on the walls of the structure to provide protection against wind and also trap heat. Believe it or not, this will also give you good protection from rain!
Cordage (optional): Not strictly necessary if you find the right kind of branches, but cordage can make for a stronger structure since you can lash the first three together for maximum stability. Paracord works great, as does small-diameter rope, natural cordage, or anything else.
And that’s absolutely everything you will need. I told you it was a short list! In the next section, I will take you through building the shelter one step at a time…
Step-by-Step Instructions
If you’ve never done it before, you’ll be surprised at how easy it is to build a wickiup with just a little bit of practice. However, you are still wise to read through all of these steps and review the pics before you start so you know what the finished thing looks like.
Step 1: Find and clear site. The very first thing you need to do is find a good building spot. It should be flat and level, provide at least 10 feet of open space, and not be in the path of any waterways or flood zones. Also, make sure you aren’t building under or near any tree that might drop a dead branch on you.
Once you’ve got a good spot, clear the ground of leaves, sticks, rocks, and other debris. Keep anything you might use for insulation or for building a fire pit. You’ll need it later.
Step 2: Gather materials. Start rounding up lengthy, stout branches and lots of material you can use for insulation. If you can, a mix of materials like green pine boughs or other foliage and dry stuff will provide the best combination of heat retention and weather resistance.
Note that when gathering the branches, you can avoid having to lash the first three together if you can find three of similar length that have a Y-shaped crook at one end. This will allow them to lock together on their own.
Step 3: Lay base tripod with stout branches. Pick out your three longest and strongest branches, preferably a trio that has the aforementioned Y-shaped notch on the end. If you want, you can cut notches at the end of these three to ease construction.
Step 4: Tie tripod branches together. Lay them together in a bundle, connect them (using cordage to make a tripod lashing if necessary), then stand them up and form the tripod, spreading out the bottom ends to provide stability and give you plenty of space inside.
Step 5: Lay more branches around perimeter. With the main tripod up, now all you’ve got to do is start laying the rest of the branches, forming a more or less solid cone. It’s good if you can minimize gaps between each, as this will make it easier to insulate and warmer overall, but don’t go crazy trying to cram them together; the next step will seal everything up.
Step 6: Start laying insulation around bottom. The structure is done, so now we start setting up the insulation material and filling in all of the gaps. Work from bottom to top here, going all the way around the bottom before you start moving up. This procedure is crucial for providing rain resistance; it works just like shingles on a roof!
If you’re working with boughs, point the cut ends up as you lay them in the same fashion. Whatever the insulation, don’t be afraid to use twigs and smaller sticks in a woven fashion between each pole to hold everything in place.
Step 7: Add more insulation, working bottom to top. Starting over again at the bottom, add another layer of insulating materials. This is really important if you used boughs for the first layer; a second layer of leaves and grasses really takes the protection factor to the next level and will keep you comfy, cozy, and toasty warm inside the wickiup.
And you are done! Your wickiup shelter is finished and ready to move into.
Extra Step: Prepare fire pit inside, if desired. It’s possible, and safe, to build a small fire inside the shelter. Clear out any fallen insulation material from the inside, dig a shallow depression, and ring it with rocks as you would for a small campfire or cook fire. Make the fire pit slightly off-center so you have plenty of room on one side.
Practice Fire Safety Inside Your Wickiup
You might be worried about a structure made of wood, dried leaves, and similar materials catching fire if you build a fire inside it. I’d say you’re pretty smart! But in truth, as long as you take some basic precautions, you don’t have much to worry about.
I hope it is obvious you’ll want to keep the size of your fire very small; as long as the flames don’t rise too high and you avoid building it too close to one wall, it will be okay. Likewise, making the first layer of insulation green foliage helps stop sparks from catching.
As always, keeping a quantity of water nearby, if you have it, or even a good supply of sand or dirt can help you deal with an accidental fire before it goes out of control.
Tom Marlowe practically grew up with a gun in his hand, and has held all kinds of jobs in the gun industry: range safety, sales, instruction and consulting, Tom has the experience to help civilian shooters figure out what will work best for them.