Ghillie Suit

Here is a little example of a ghillie suit in action for those of you who are new to ghillie suits.  As you can see, the guy wearing the ghillie suit in this video is visible, but his ghillie suit looks so natural that you don’t give it a second look until he moves.

This reminds me of one important tip for those who are new to wearing a ghillie suit: A ghillie suit doesn’t work while you are moving. This is easy to forget. Often, people are so impressed by how hidden they are when wearing a ghillie suit that they get cocky and think they can move, or move slowly, without being detected. However, the eye can easily spot movement, so you can easily be seen if you move.

If you must move, the trick is to move quickly, stop and look, and move again. This way, you benefit from the ghillie suit while remaining still, looking and listening for others before you move again.

The military sniper in this video is preparing his ghillie suit by gathering vegetation from the surrounding area. The results are quit impressive: these ghillies are nearly impossible to see.

Of all the ghillie videos I’ve seen, this is one of the shortest. Unfortunately, the speech on this video is not English. It’s unclear from the video whether the soldiers in the ghillie suits are American.

The video concludes showing a number of military snipers wearing ghillie suits.

This video is a good reminder that mankind did not invent camouflage. In fact, man has yet to achieve the incredible cloaking of this animal.

Call this a “natural ghillie suit,” if you will. See if you can spot the concealed creature (I’m intentionally not naming the creature so that you can try to find it) before it attacks.

If only we all had the ability to camouflage ourselves like this, we wouldn’t need to buy a ghillie suit for every environment.

Observe the paintball players and hunters in this video as they conceal themselves in brush and trees, making them nearly invisible because of their ghillie suits.

When I first watched this video, I could spot the paintballers or hunters even though they were wearing ghillie suits. However, that is because I was sitting still at a computer trying to spot them.

Now imagine you are moving through the woods, possibly running, and having to watch all around you. As you walk or run through the woods, you are much less likely to see a person concealed by a ghillie suit than if you are sitting still staring at your computer screen. So imagine what it would be like if you were there, not knowing when you would come across someone cloaked in ghillie suit.

This video caused me to picture myself in the woods, waiting for a bird to fly by, or for a paintballer to come springing along just in time for my paintball gun to give him a good splat.

How should a ghillie move without being seen? In this video, the soldier in a ghillie suit demonstrates how to properly move in a grassy field and other environments while reducing the possibility of being seen.

In the first half of the video, the field is comprised of long brown grass. The men wearing ghillie suits often try to keep a close proximity to the ground when they walk, crawl, or crouch.

They move a few feet, hold, and move a few more feet. By repeating this action, they raise little attention from onlookers in the distance. While an onlooker may notice movement, by the time the onlooker turns to focus, the man in the ghillie suit is still, and the onlooker sees nothing. This move-hold pattern also allows a ghillie suit wearing soldier to watch and listen for the enemy during the hold periods. This movement pattern is useful in a number of scenario paintball or Airsoft environments.

Towards second half of the video (3 minutes 45 second from the beginning), the guys in ghillie suits provide a close-up demonstration so viewers can observe them putting on their ghillie suits. Then they demonstrate specific movements used in the first half of the video. Notice how they position their body and the ghillie suit covering it during these movement patterns.

In the last quarter of the video (7 minutes 29 second in from the beginning), the ghillie suits conceal the men on the side of the road waiting to ambush soldiers or vehicles that pass by.

At 8 minutes 14 second in, near the end, the ghillies demonstrate crawling.

At 8 minutes 29 seconds in, the ghillies show the face paint they use to camouflage their heads and necks.

What is a Ghillie Suit?

A ghillie suit is the ultimate camouflage outfit designed to resemble the trees, underbrush, bushes, or snow present in the ghillie’s natural environment. Typically, a ghillie suit is made of a net or cloth garment covered in loose strips of fabric, twine, leaves, or foliage.

What are Ghillie Suits Called?

Ghillie suits go by many different names. A ghillie suit is sometimes called “yowie suit” because a person wearing a ghillie suit can look like a yowie, which is a type of mythical legend of a “Big Foot” character that roams outdoors.

Sometimes people mis-spell ghillie suit by calling it a “ghillie suite.”

Who Uses Ghillie Suits?

A ghillie suit is used by paintball players, military snipers, hunters, outdoor photographers, bird watchers, and others who want maximum concealment in the woods, fields, or snow.

What is the History of Ghillie Suits?

To learn more about ghillie suit history, visit History of Ghillie Suits.

How Do I Make a Ghillie Suit?

There are a variety of ways to make a ghillie suit. You can make one from scratch or buy a kit. There are many types of directions available depending on the type of materials you want to use and the final appearance you want your ghillie suit to present. To learn more, check out the various articles on Ghillie.

How Do I Learn More About Ghillie Suits?

Visit this page if you want to learn about the History of the Ghillie Suit.

To learn more about ghillie suits, read the various articles on Ghillie or leave your question as a comment on one of the articles, such as this one. I will answer your question promptly—probably within a few hours. Just type your question below.

Have you ever considered buying or making a ghillie suit for your car? Um, no, I haven’t either.However, this police car resembles an auto-ghillie-suit, which probably was not intentional.

Okay, this is a poor attempt at humor, but the photo is still interesting. was interesting until the owner of the website removed it. Sorry—now that the photo of the police car in a ghillie suit is gone, there is no way to view it.

Ghillie suits are cool. And ghillie suits can conceal you. But there are still “right” ways and “wrong” ways to use a ghillie suit. A ghillie suit is only effective if it matches the surrounding environment. Here is an example of U.S. Air Force Snipers using their ghillie suits the “wrong” way. See the photo here.

Getting dressed in a ghillie suit can take at least a few minutes. The guy on this video demonstrates putting on his ghillie suit and then demonstrates using it to hide in the woods.

What I love about this video is that the video is played at high speed in the beginning while the guy dresses in the ghillie suit. While it would normally take five minutes to put on this ghillie suit, it only takes 1.5 minutes for viewers to watch.

Then the guy in the ghillie suit puts branches in the straps of his ghilie suit to further customize the ghillie suit to fit in with the foliage around him. The end result is he looks like a walking Bigfoot, making me wonder if Bigfoot was merely a ghillie, but that subject is better left to conspiracy theorists.

After about three minutes into this video, they guy has completed dressing in his ghillie suit. The rest of the video is footage of the guy in the ghillie suit walking around, crouching, and hiding—demonstrating the ghillie suit’s concealment power in action.

When watching this video, I was impressed by the quality of this homemade ghillie suit. As demonstrated by the video, this ghillie suit appears to be durable and provided excellent concealment.

An interesting story involving ghillie suits hit the news wires in June, 2007. A couple refused to pay their income taxes so Federal Marshals put on ghillie suits and surrounded the home. (The couple says there is no law requiring them to pay taxes.)

The tax issue aside, it is interesting to see that Federal Marshals own and use ghillie suits. Traditionally, ghillie suits have been predominantly used in foreign battles. It appears that the use of ghillie suits by government agents in domestic situations is increasing.

Now that federal government agents own ghillie suits, we will be watching to see when they use them.

As I write, the bushes in my yard are moving closer to my house. Maybe I should have paid my taxes.

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