So I got a ghillie

[gigglemonk]

#5609

Well, I’ve never really been into Camo. When I lived in Utah, spot and stalk worked real well wearing earth tones and now in ca i haven’t had the best luck stalking through oak leaves. So I’m trying a mix of spot stalk and ambush.

I was looking at Camo clothes and I ended up with a ghillie for the price of some decent Camo brands. Never used one before, I think it’ll be fun but looking to hear people’s thoughts.

Thanks all

[jpcarlson]

#42737

Gigglemonk wrote: Well, I’ve never really been into Camo. When I lived in Utah, spot and stalk worked real well wearing earth tones and now in ca i haven’t had the best luck stalking through oak leaves. So I’m trying a mix of spot stalk and ambush.

I was looking at Camo clothes and I ended up with a ghillie for the price of some decent Camo brands. Never used one before, I think it’ll be fun but looking to hear people’s thoughts.

Thanks all

I was just given an old ghillie suit by a sniper friend to try for this fall too. I have never bowhunted in one but I can already see some adjustments that need to be made, mainly clipping away material on the bow arm and anything in front which the string might grap while shooting. I think the key will be to practice a good deal with it on from various shooting positions and custumize it to what will be practical for a trad shooter. the camo/concealment the ghillie offers is outstanding in certain situations. I look forward to trying it with spot and stalk as I have noticed many species of game will only run a short distance when they can’t identfy your silohette as a predator, as long as they don’t wind you. Keep me posted on your results and good hunting.

Jans

[Humpy]

#43510

Ive been using one for a couple years now, im always amazed at how close deer will walk up. The first year I used it I had a doe almost walk over me (scared the crap outta me just to be honest:shock:).

[handirifle]

#45041

I use one and love it. mine I got at Wal Mart, of all places, cause it also is a mosquito net, which I use every time I hunt.

That is whether I hunt with rifle or bow.

[Ed Ashby]

#45518

A number of years ago I wrote a rather detailed article on building Gillie suits (yes, both spellings are corrrect) in the “Old Derelict’ series for Archery Action (Australia). One really important thing I learned over several years of building Gillie suits is that it helps greatly to match the Gillie suit closely to the individual area(s) you are hunting. To help do that during the building process I found that taking both color and black and white photos of the suit against the background area where it will be used provided me with extremely valuable information.

Nowadays this is easy, as many digital cameras will take both color and B&W photos. The color photo helps you match the color and hue of the background and the B&W photo helps you match the relative brightness of the background. Correctly matching the background made a big difference in the effectiveness of the Gillie suits. For deer matching the relative brightness is more important than matching the color and hue. For birds and predators it’s important to match both both color/hue and relative brightness.

Creating the illusion of depth, through use of shaddows cast by the surface material(s) used in the Gillie suit, is also extremely importsnt. It’s often startling to see how visible regular camo pattern cloth (and some gillie suits that lack ‘depth’) look when photographed in B&W; compared to a well designed Gillie suit.

Ed

[Raymond Coffman]

#45938

Thanks Doc-

I have a “upper body & head” Ghillie – that I have adjusted to allow good shooting with my bow. I have always “changed” it to fit the environment color/hue/shagginess [varying length of material] etc – hadn’t thought of using B&W photos to check brightness – great tip!

Scout

[gigglemonk]

#46062

Thanks Doc

I took some black and white pics as soon as i opened it. I went with a “Field Grass” color option, tans, olive green and light brown to match the local area. Southern CA is mostly desert, chapparel, pinon/juniper… In other words DRY. Ill post the pics when I get a chance. This morning I was out and though no bucks came by, a fox came within 10 yards of me. Guess I dont smell that bad

[Raymond Coffman]

#47195

You know you are hiding well if you see fox at 10yds –they are very careful [ sneaky]

Scout

[Mark Turton]

#47989

You may also like to try spray paint to add seasonal color, the paints sold at model shops for military modeling are good and flat, start at a distance so that the paint settles finely and decrease the distance to get denser color, that’s probably obvious.

That said a fox at 10 yds. must be working ok.

Mark.

[gigglemonk]

#48136

Thanks for the spray paint tip. Here is Southern CA we dont really get seasons, its dry. My binoculars though, Leupold Rogue arent camo’d at all. Some flat spray paint sounds perfect.

The fox was pretty sweet! Really proved to me the benefits of the suit.

I decided to take last night and the next few days off to let my little area mellow out a bit. My buddy went though and, of course, saw a 3 point come in and nibble on the SAME TREE I was posted under the night before!

A damn good buddy he is. He was about 200 yards away coming up a draw and decided not to stalk it.

Oh well.:roll:

[Wexbow]

#48168

Would the use of spray paint on clothes not introduce very alien solvent odours to a hunting area? Even once dry I find solvent based paints really stink and I have a rubbish human nose! Do you use water based products?

[gigglemonk]

#48244

Wex

Looks like your brain works better than your nose! Great point! I can smell spray paint for days after I use it in my garage. Thanks!

[Mark Turton]

#48944

The brand I have used was Hunbrol, I’ll check latter but I think it is an acrylic base, there is a smell when first applied but this lasts only a short time.

Regarding binoculars you might like to just wrap them in scrim this will hide the sharp edges and works well.

Mark.

[Ed Ashby]

#51139

Try making a small bag, just large enough to stretch over your binoculars, out of mesh material and then tying threads of various color yarns to the mesh; much like a Gillie suit for your binoculars. This makes great camo for binoculars, with no risk of damaging them. On some models of binoculars you may have to cut a small opening to reach the focus adjustment knob(s).

Ed

[Greg Ragan]

#51367

Dr. Ed Ashby wrote: Try making a small bag, just large enough to stretch over your binoculars, out of mesh material and then tying threads of various color yarns to the mesh; much like a Gillie suit for your binoculars. This makes great camo for binoculars, with no risk of damaging them. On some models of binoculars you may have to cut a small opening to reach the focus adjustment knob(s).

Ed

Great tips! Also remember when you set up that cover behind you is extremely important for the effectiveness.

Here is a pic of me with some cover behind:

This was taken just before that pic in the relative open:

Yes, I have made a cover for my back quiver since:lol:

[jpcarlson]

#51661

Dr. Ed Ashby wrote: A number of years ago I wrote a rather detailed article on building Gillie suits (yes, both spellings are corrrect) in the “Old Derelict’ series for Archery Action (Australia). One really important thing I learned over several years of building Gillie suits is that it helps greatly to match the Gillie suit closely to the individual area(s) you are hunting. To help do that during the building process I found that taking both color and black and white photos of the suit against the background area where it will be used provided me with extremely valuable information.

Nowadays this is easy, as many digital cameras will take both color and B&W photos. The color photo helps you match the color and hue of the background and the B&W photo helps you match the relative brightness of the background. Correctly matching the background made a big difference in the effectiveness of the Gillie suits. For deer matching the relative brightness is more important than matching the color and hue. For birds and predators it’s important to match both both color/hue and relative brightness.

Creating the illusion of depth, through use of shaddows cast by the surface material(s) used in the Gillie suit, is also extremely importsnt. It’s often startling to see how visible regular camo pattern cloth (and some gillie suits that lack ‘depth’) look when photographed in B&W; compared to a well designed Gillie suit.

Ed

Great info Dr Ed,

I will try that out. I often look at the natural patterns/colors of the animals I am hunting and am amazed their colors conceal so well! I also have looked at the coat/colors of predators/wild dogs and notice how light and dark patterns play more of a role than actual color in breaking up a person outline.

Is it better to start with a base color that is lighter, and darken with material/foilage? or vice versa?

Jans

[Ed Ashby]

#52301

jpcarlson wrote: [Is it better to start with a base color that is lighter, and darken with material/foilage? or vice versa?Jans

Except for some specialized uses, such as in the snow or some deaert ares requiring predominately orange-red colors, I always start my Gillie suits with a medium dark gray as my base color and build up from there. Typically the very last colors you add are black and white. Black and white a ‘strong colors’ and can be used (sparaingly) to do final relative brightness adjustments.

When I started taking the black and white photos to look at relative brightness I discovered that my tendency, when going by just how the color match appeard to my eye, was always to make the suit way too dark. There’s a lot more ‘white’ (brightness) in the environment than most of us realize.

Ed

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