I was just wondering in any of you ground hunters out there use only some sort of ghillie head cover vs a full ghillie suit? I usually wear my head cover only while walking from location to location. My ghillie poncho snags a lot and is difficult to walk in. I've run into a couple deers while on the move and they seem to not be able to determine my human form with just the head cover. Your thoughts.
I have wondered the same I have been planning on adding some jute to the head piece of a leafy suit and then wear it with the leafy jacket and see what it looks like and maybe add some to the shoulders of the jacket to round it out. I haven't done it yet but I think I would be effective---interesting topic...
Rick
All I wear any more is my Asbell wool and head cover. Found out it works just as well for deer.
I have thought about this in the past and your right. For example, I ride horses and when you come across a backpacker on a new green horse, they become unglued when the outline of the backpack distorts the outline of the persons head and shoulders. I believe you can get better results by distorting your head and shoulder outline when ground hunting. Tim in NC
yup Rick, i have thought of doing the same to my asat leafy suit- adding some jute or synthetic to the head piece and under the rams, so when the arms are moved away from the body to draw, the "blob" is still maintained!
Yes, I think that just a head cover has a lot of positives. I hunt with a full suit- jacket w/ hood and pants. I was still hunting elk along a trail last year. I had just passed by three cows about 40 yards off the trail - and never saw them. They had apparently seen me but never moved until I flipped my hood off and then took off. Obviously they never recognized my form until they could see my head.
good idea... many predators and (most)people have round heads.. hmmm
Great post any-one have pics or a how-to follow along ?
Burt
cabelas sells a nice shaggie boonie
I wear a head cover when seated - because that puts your face at a deer's eye level. In my case a big, light colored unnatural thing in the woods. I don't go with Ghillie styles because I don't like the idea of all the loose fabric, fibers, etc. hanging where they might snag the string and throw off the shot. Instead I use a mesh that stays closer to my cheek.
But I don't believe just a face ghillie would be an improvement over a full suit.
I'm think of trying to make a modified version of one of these head and shoulder grilles. Check out this YouTube video. Lots of really good how to in this series.
http://m.youtube.com/index?&desktop_uri=%2F#/watch?v=ma-DlKjgtIA
PeteA, thanks for the post! I used the search on youtube and typed in "head and shoulder ghillie" and the first one that came up was a boonie hat/vest thing that I am DEFINITELY gonna try and make for myself (woohoo! New project! :D ). Should work well. Thanks again!
-Tony
I made my own boonie and suit after I purchased and sold my Rancho Safari suit. I kept the instant blind material and used it to sew on patches of it to a one piece camo coverall. The result is a suit you can still hunt in without getting hung up on every little catch, trimmed especially for bow hunting and quiet when drawing the bow. The Rancho was too heavy and to noisy when drawing for my liking. I've had a doe back to my left at 5 yards and a small buck to my right at same time without getting busted. My boonie I wear no matter what I'm wearing. I love the way wildlife just looks thru me. I had enough material left to be able to use the left over to use for back drop or front cover. I roll it all together into the size of a very small sleeping bag and throw it over my shoulders to carry in till I want to put it on. The coverall is large enough to dress appropriately for colder weather. I added a strap accross my chest to take bunched material while seated and tighten it so as not to catch the string while shooting seated. The hat is of the same material and I agree, this takes the human upper torso look away as the material is longer than shoulder length. By cutting and sewing you can have movement from the sewn on pieces without getting in your face. I feel naked to the world without it now. If it looks funny, stupid or just crazy to others your probably on the right track. Very inexspensive and while not priceless, I wouldn't be without this in my bag of tricks.
QuoteOriginally posted by 1screagle:
I made my own boonie and suit after I purchased and sold my Rancho Safari suit. I kept the instant blind material and used it to sew on patches of it to a one piece camo coverall. The result is a suit you can still hunt in without getting hung up on every little catch, trimmed especially for bow hunting and quiet when drawing the bow. The Rancho was too heavy and to noisy when drawing for my liking. I've had a doe back to my left at 5 yards and a small buck to my right at same time without getting busted. My boonie I wear no matter what I'm wearing. I love the way wildlife just looks thru me. I had enough material left to be able to use the left over to use for back drop or front cover. I roll it all together into the size of a very small sleeping bag and throw it over my shoulders to carry in till I want to put it on. The coverall is large enough to dress appropriately for colder weather. I added a strap accross my chest to take bunched material while seated and tighten it so as not to catch the string while shooting seated. The hat is of the same material and I agree, this takes the human upper torso look away as the material is longer than shoulder length. By cutting and sewing you can have movement from the sewn on pieces without getting in your face. I feel naked to the world without it now. If it looks funny, stupid or just crazy to others your probably on the right track. Very inexspensive and while not priceless, I wouldn't be without this in my bag of tricks.
How about a how-to post with pics?
I hunt in a ghillie quite a bit, and although I won't turn down the use of the full thing, you are definitely correct, my buddy and I both have worn just the head cover (in both cases, boonies with lots of shoulder) and both noticed the difference in being noticed.
It is said in some bio classes that prey animals (all critters really, including us) have an ingrained ability to pick out faces and heads. That's what keeps them alive.
In my mind, it does work, very well, and when moving, I often wear the head cover.
ChuckC
Just picked up some netting & Ghillie material to sew onto one of my boonie hats, today at the army surplus store. Looks like it'll be a good set-up, I'll let ya know how it works out for me when I get to use it. BTW, about $25 investment for enough stuff to make the head & shoulders hat/vest thing big enough for a guy that's 6' tall and 300+ pounds. Pretty cool.