Building a ghillie suit

huntnut

huntnut

New member
I desided to make a ghillie suit out of burlap I had lying around. I did my gun last night it looks ok I'm going to make a shelth to go over the gun and attach the burlap to so I can take it off and clean my gun. I'm starting the jacket or ponch tonight I'll post pics of it when I'm done but here's the gun.


gunghillie002.jpg
 
someone looks real excited about being in the picture! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

I'm anxious to see what your poncho/jacket will look like.
How much did it cost to make?
 
It has cost me very little money, I used some camo burlap I got last year for a boat blind, so I call that free (really cost like $7 wallmart hunting section) I used a old badmitten net that my kids had. The matiral for the sheath for the gun was Advantage 4D camo it was on sale for $3 a yard bought 3 yards never know what else I might use it for.

And yes she wan't very excited about holding my gun to take pics of it and it was even worse when I had her stand there with my hunting coat on so I could atatch the netting to it. Wifes can live with em can't live with out em LMAO
 
Go to wal mart, get 5 yards of burlap (thats how much it took just to do a BDU top for my dad), camo paint, and a hot melt glue gun and general purpose glue sicks. lay the burlap out and paint a camo pattern on one side only, not too thick it will make it stiff. Cut the burlap into 2x14 strips get some BDU's and start gluing them on in stagered rows like this _-_-_-_. To get a bushier look you need to lay the BDU on a table, chest up and neck away from you. Run a bead of glue across one end of the painted side of the burlap strip. turn the strip over and place it on a shoulder with the rest of the strip above the rest of the BDU, do this row after row. when you pick up the BDU the strip will fold over itself showing the painted camo side creating a bushier look rather than a flat look. Is everyone Confused? PM me with any questions and I'll be happy to help. Pics I can email.

t/c223encore.
 
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i dont think my waldo-mart has burlap or camo cloth /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif do you know anywhere else that may have burlap or camo cloth? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif
Thanks
Bob
 
would it be easier to paint the burlap lightly or dye the burlap,,and if dying is easier what type of dye and where do i get it?
Thanks
Bob
 
OhioBob, Painting it is easier and in my opinion, more effective. Each strip has different colors on it rather than a whole strip one color, made it more blotchy than patterned and I think it helps it blend in better. As I said in my post above, I made dad one and he wore it after the paint smell wore off. We was walkin into an area to make a stand, I looked away for one second (literally), when I looked back I coudn't find dad till he started walkin again, and he was only 40 yards away from me.

Go in and ask at that wal mart, I havent seen a wal mart that didn't have burlap, should be about $1.50 a yard.

t/c223encore.
 
I made this it took me about 8 man hours if you include the cutting of the burlap I used rit dye and dyed it to match my surroundings you can always use paint but I think it doesnt breathe as well. this is made out of an old NBC suit not out of BDU's because I had them on hand and the material is strong yet lighter. I put a military duffel bag cut up and formed to the front. this is for paint ball but you could use it for huting and could even use more burlap and attach it to the front. I also would recommend shoe goo instead of hot glue gun because is holds like cement you can also use dental floss and sew on the netting.
 
The next one I will build is going to be for the great plains and is is going to be mainly natural, white and a couple of browns. I found an easy way of doing the natural and giving it some texture is to get natural jute twine in different sizes and cut them to about 2 feet then tie them on half way and you have a quick fix or just an easy way to do it but be aware that it might take a million miles of jute twine to make a whole suit. Ive also found that if you bury the suit for a couple of days the smell of the shoe goo or paint or whatever will dissipate a bit faster.
 
that would probably work after all there are more than one way to skin the cat. I would be sure that it held on really tight because there is nothing worse than losing burlap in the field cuz then you have to repair repair repair.
 
I wrote an article about a ghillie suit I made, when they sent me the proof to read they placed my photo upside down in magazine! proves its real hard to make out what the he&* it was in the picture /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
 
t/c223encore does your glue gun work well? I have tried it that way and I found the glue didnt attach the netting or the burlap as good as I wanted it too. Did you use a special glue or just a bunch of it?
 
the thing is I live in TX so I want the lightest weight and coolest option available. Any suggestions? I was thinking of making one that was like a large pullover that I could layer under if I had to.
 
I used General Purpose glue sticks. I just ran a bead of the glue across the entire strip, enough to leave some glue on my finger from pressing strips on to the BDU. I tool a break every 15 minutes to allow time for the hot melt to set. Maybe the difference is that BDU's have more surface area than Netting does.

t/c223encore.
 
Quote:
the thing is I live in TX so I want the lightest weight and coolest option available. Any suggestions? I was thinking of making one that was like a large pullover that I could layer under if I had to.



A video that I have shows several variations of ghillie suits and one way that might fit the bill for you is to make it strictly out of netting with the burlap tied to it (not attaching it to BDUs or poncho). Looks like some of the pix already posted.

Once complete just slip it over your shoulders and fasten in front if your in the prone position. Simply turn the netting 180 degrees with the burlap to the front if you're sitting up using sticks or other support.

I'm in the process of making a suit and will have it where it can be attached or removed from a BDU and used independently as described above. I need to check out Wally World for burlap- I got mine for $2.99/yd at a fabric store.
 


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