Cheap, Fast Ghillie Suit

All home-made Ghillie suits have a single, looming disadvantage: time. The time it takes to thread and knot the materials together, sew them to the clothes, and sometimes cost as much as or more than buying from the store. Most that work just fine come in around $100, quality ones twice or three times that.

To make one? Buying enough jute by itself costs as much as $70. Good, inexpensive, complete kits cost less than $70. But to get the recommended military camouflage jacket and pants from a surplus store: $55 for a jacket and $30 for a pair of pants—that’s being very conservative. But good quality ones are always homemade, and the one you design depends on you.

If you’re looking for something more temporary (because I don’t think you can rent Ghillie suits) or your budget just can’t go that high, there’s a more inexpensive way that can work well, and done right, even better than one you would buy.

Ideally, there are only three main pieces for Ghillie suits: ponchos jackets, and pants. The poncho covers your body front and/or back well, and tends to be favored by hunters as they’re a bit easier to work with. A jacket on the other hand is closer to the body and allows for a little more customization but is more time consuming to construct and will be hotter.

The interesting thing one might not know is that you need to use or dye the colors of jute that are ideal for the location you plan on going. Trouble is, unless you’re always showing up at the same place, you’re going to get a one-place use out of your suit.

Buying some decorative fishing net (since some it worked from a previous camouflage idea) I had to sew two parts together but it held together very well. (Though really as suggested any strong netting will do). Then I bought a digital camo boonie hat. Since I like lying down, I planned out where my body would be covered by the netting, and once a spot was fixated, I cut out a small hole for the boonie hat to fit through, and then using just twist ties, attached the hat to the netting. The netting draped over me like a cloak. The weight of anything I attached hung on the crown of my head rather than on my arms or shoulders.

Being that it was a single mass, it was extremely easy to fit things on it. Instead of having to match colors to different pieces, it was all just together. What I put on it was almost exactly how it would look.

When I used it as a costume before the camping trip, I used a wad of twist ties from a grocery store to attach fake vines and branches. So I decided to try it out with real foliage. Surprise, I built a complete, fully working Ghillie suit in hardly a couple of hours. Most of it was just laced and tangled in the netting, but larger clump pieces were held in place by twist ties. Some fell off but I dragged it, rolled in it, rolled it up, and shook it.

Scanning the area revealed that thick batches of desert grass was very common, so to save time I made the whole suit out of just that. I could lie down near pathways where people walk and not be noticed, on the edge of clearings, behind absolutely nothing. Crawling underneath a tree with low branches I was virtually invisible up to 16 feet from behind, and only because my black shoe was showing. And the one looking for me passed by once already.

This clearly isn’t going to work in the snow (then again, neither would a greenish-brown jute-covered suit). And because warmth is now important, you’re going to want to construct something normal so that you can stay warmer.

Since the materials are all natural, unless you spray fire retardant on it you aren’t going to be fireproof. I haven’t tested it in water, but I’m sure at least some pieces would fall off from that.

Also, you can carry your suit in a plastic bag, and try to preserve it but it won’t last forever. The specific design you get together is meant only for that specific environment. As most snipers are supposed to do anyway, scouting is part of the entire process. When you have time beforehand, you can plan and start getting things together.

This suit design is extraordinarily fast to create compared to most. I figured if most suits are only going to be built for one type of environment anyway, you might as well get one that’s made quickly and easily using native foliage in any environment.

Because there is no jute, it’s also extraordinarily cheap (total: $30). I already own a boonie hat of another color, so all I need to do is undo one, and put on another. Also the fact that it isn’t attached to clothing means that what you wear underneath isn’t dependent on your hiding.

If you really need to, you can use a blanket with holes on the edges where you can attach the netting. From there, you can cover anything, drape it between two trees and lie down or lie down on top of it giving it versatility.

Another advantage of using the natural surroundings is that you aren’t breaking up a pattern of materials that don’t belong. This makes you harder to spot at closer distances, even almost point blank range. It’s also a lot cooler because there are small spaces where a breeze can ventilate.

And because it isn’t clothing you wear (but put on over clothing), it’s very easy to put on and take off. So even if it does catch on fire for any reason, you can throw it off of yourself.