Building A Ghillie

One of the most common questions I get from students coming out to the Scout Course is “how do I build a ghillie?” prior to coming out there. Its a long an involved process, and certainly not something you’re going to build in the span of a weekend class, but I do cover the basics of how you’ll make them. Everyone wants to look like a badass guerrilla sniper roaming the hills, and you can’t do that without a decent ghillie. Let’s cover how I built my current go-to to give you some pointers.
First, understand the real purpose of a ghillie suit- its not to make you a yeti or look like a walking tree. Take this guy in the image- he just looks like a guy in a ghillie suit. Not very effective. The real purpose is to mask the human shape enough to fool other humans into thinking you’re not another human hunting them. If you can cover or obscure the head and shoulders, you’re 90 percent of the way there. The rest is successfully matching the terrain makeup of your background.
The old school way of building ghillies was somewhat impractical and not something I ever saw in common use other than ranges stateside. We’d take BDUs and sew on carhartt material (cotton duck) on the front thighs, chest, and elbows while adding a layer of sleeping pad / yoga mat to cushion where we’d make contact with the ground while crawling. Next you’d glue or sew on netting to place your jute twine on your back, topped off with a boonie cap done the same way. While it worked, it was extremely hot, impractical for any real world use other than stalking training, and could not be used with any other gear.
Later on I got turned on to the idea of a Cobra Hood. Its become pretty popular in the Sniper community and its basically a pair of lightweight sleeves and hood that has the netting sewn on to attach your jute twine. It fits over top of whatever gear you’re already running, so its quick to throw on and take back off and straps to the top of a pack. I built a couple of these at the same time, and even though its a pretty cheap rig, its held up very well in the three years since I first built them.
A ghillie is easy to build, it just takes time. First, grab your cobra hood and some jute twine. Mix and match the camo colors. Make it random. Nothing in nature is matching or symmetrical. Make a loop going from under the netting and pull the run end of the jute twine through. This creates a girth hitch, anchoring your twine in place. Start from the bottom and work your way to the top. This is going to take a while. Notice I’ve got a few different textures of twine- thin, multi-colored jute and thicker hay bale twine. This adds contrasting texture. You don’t need a huge amount of twine, either. Remember we’re not trying to look like a walking ape in the woods, we simply need to obscure the human shape and give a base layer to add vegetation during our stalk.
Once you’re done, fine the nearest mud pit and throw it in. Leave it there for a couple of weeks. Ghillies when built have a plasticky, unnatural shine to them. We want to get rid of that by aging them and introducing the fabric to as much of our environment as possible. Since you’re going to be crawling around in the mud anyway, the more mud, the better.
When you’re ready to wear it, keep in mind that jute is there as a base layer. As I said, its a supplement to the vegetation you’ll be putting on yourself during your stalk. The best camoflage is matching the vegetation and dominant colors of your background in an effort to fool the human eyes into thinking you’re not what you really are.
Making a ghillie top is not a complicated thing. Don’t make it one. My setup is a very simple rig that I’ve run quite a bit over the years and have had countless students do the same. Keep it simple and you’ll be very happy with it. And if you want to know what to do with it, some on out to the Scout Course.
 

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By Published On: February 25, 2021Categories: NC Scout, Training10 Comments on Building A Ghillie

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About the Author: NC Scout

NC Scout is the nom de guerre of a former Infantry Scout and Sergeant in one of the Army’s best Reconnaissance Units. He has combat tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He teaches a series of courses focusing on small unit skills rarely if ever taught anywhere else in the prepping and survival field, including his RTO Course which focuses on small unit communications. In his free time he is an avid hunter, bushcrafter, writer, long range shooter, prepper, amateur radio operator and Libertarian activist. He can be contacted at [email protected] or via his blog at brushbeater.wordpress.com .

10 Comments

  1. Anonymous February 25, 2021 at 07:17

    5

  2. SOG February 25, 2021 at 08:12

    thanks scout,
    I saw an interview once with a USMC SS he said most failed the camo and concealment portion of stalking testing due to forgetting to camo the soles of their boots with material or spray paint. as you said newer material has a shine and depending on what color your boot soles are this could stand out in otherwise flat or subdued vegetation.
    Also as you stated the old school method they would also take Flight suits or mechanics coveralls and glue and stitch material of course you had to oversize it to account for stitching material into it and of course this was hot and added more weight than necessary.
    LLTR

    • NC Scout February 25, 2021 at 09:13

      That and failing to obscure the outline of your objective lens- but that’s another topic.

  3. Johnny Paratrooper February 25, 2021 at 10:28

    We bought a viper hood as a test and some jute. My friend sat down for a couple hours and rigged one of these bad boys up for the North East. Incredible results. You basically vanish from view. And cutting your outline in half horizontally tricks the pattern recognition portion of your brain into thinking nothing is there. Vertical pattern recognition is hard wired into our brains because our ancestors used to get ambushed by people hiding behind trees and tall grass (Which are vertical) So the “Wookie” suit doesn’t work very well as a result. But when you eliminate the upper arms, shoulders, and head as you mention in the article, it really tricks your brain. Quite literally your brain simply doesn’t see “A Person” by removing the top half. Plus, when behind some cover or concealment, which you should be using anyway you can limit the weight and bulk.
    I’m gonna order one of these viper hoods and some jute(A lot actually) for myself. For the record, you use much more jute than you think. And you can rig jute into the molle on your pack or LBE and you can transform a camouflaged pack into a whole different animal in regards to camouflage.
    For the record, as you mentioned, you do need to “Season” your gear by leaving it in the woods. Brand new gear can be spotted from almost a kilometer away with a spotting scope or a high powered rifle scope.

    • wwes February 25, 2021 at 11:06

      Spending some time dragging the hood around the edge of a pond and creeks, and walking it into that nasty mud around the edges helps the seasoning quite a bit too.

  4. spaceman February 26, 2021 at 21:12

    I know its off topic, but just read the calibre obscura post, wondering when I can sign up for the recoilless(20mm I assume,) and manpad class?

    • spaceman February 26, 2021 at 22:24

      I wasn’t serious, it would be a cool class tho.
      Do you have any links for the cobra head and jute?

      • spaceman February 27, 2021 at 07:56

        Yeah, I found the links, sometimes my eyes don’t see red so well
        Just when I think I’m squared away, I find another piece of vital kit
        How many of you guys feel your ready for the balloon to go up?
        I’ve read many of SELCO’s stories, and others, and I see it coming,
        but a little piece of me tells me “it can’t happen here”
        when does that feeling fade, or is it ripped off like a band-aid?

        • 71M March 1, 2021 at 00:07

          Space:
          You are not alone. At least a few million of us are having same thoughts as you. Just do all you can while you can

          • spaceman March 5, 2021 at 05:43

            10-4

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