A sniper suit is designed to let you crawl on the ground without getting caught on twigs and brush.

Remember the cartoons where the character sneaks around with a bush over his body for cover? Well, that’s sort of how a ghillie suit works, except it’s designed to be a lot easier than finding natural cover and a lot more mobile (and comfortable) than wearing a bush.

A ghillie suit breaks up your outline with three-dimensional camouflage that moves with you when you move. It’s mobile enough for walking, running, and crawling, and it’s available in a variety of styles that combine comfort and function, including synthetic materials and ultra lightweight suits.

Mobility

How much mobility you need will help you figure out which type of ghillie suit to buy. A full-length poncho provides good coverage but restricts your legs and makes it harder to run or crawl. A shorter poncho makes it easier to run but provides less lower body coverage. A sniper suit is designed for crawling, running, and walking, with camouflage strips only on the back of the suit.

Coverage

How much coverage you need also factors in to which ghillie suit you should buy. A three-piece ghillie or a full-length poncho provides the most coverage. A sniper suit provides three-dimensional camouflage only on the back side, and a shorter poncho leaves your calves and ankles exposed.

Ghillie Materials

The stickers and twigs picked up by natural material are good when you want to “naturalize” the suit to match the surrounding terrain but bad when you’re trying to get through thick brush. Synthetic materials are less likely to get caught on every bush and tree.

Natural materials such as jute require an extra layer next to the skin to avoid irritation. Synthetic materials with a mesh base can be worn comfortably with next to nothing underneath. Synthetic suits are lighter in weight than suits made with natural materials.

Budget

Cost and time are also factors in choosing a ghillie suit. Kits are available for those who want a custom-made suit, but it will require hours of tedious tying. You can find ready-made ghillie suits for almost as cheap, with extra jute strings or synthetic ties included for customizing the suit to your taste.

This ghillie suit offers full coverage with jacket, pants, full cover hood, and gun wrap.

How do you know which ghillie suit is the right one for you? Here are a few basic questions you need to answer before deciding which ghillie suit to buy.

How much coverage do you need?

One of the first questions to ask is how much of your body the ghillie suit needs to cover. Some ponchos cover only the top half of your body, allowing for free movement but requiring tall vegetation to camouflage the lower half of the body. Other ponchos extend to your knees or even down to your feet, offering more coverage. A sniper suit includes camouflage strands on only the back side of the suit for coverage while lying down and crawling across open areas. A jacket, pants, hat (or hood), and gun wrap offer the most coverage possible.

How freely do you need to be able to move?

The next question to ask is what you will be doing while wearing the suit. Are you walking through dense brush? Crawling on your belly across an open field? Running from tree to tree? The style of the ghillie suit will determine how easily you can move while wearing it. A poncho suit that comes down to your feet will get in the way if you need to crawl or run. A jacket and pants set gives you more freedom of movement, letting you run and move faster than you could while wearing a poncho. A sniper suit has no strands on the front, which allows you to crawl without getting snagged on anything.

The sniper ghillie suit has no strands on the front, allowing you to crawl or lie on the ground.

Speaking of getting snagged, another thing to remember is that if you are moving through dense brush, jute strands will pick up leaves and stickers and catch on branches more easily than synthetic strands. If you will move through dense brush often while wearing the suit, look for a suit with synthetic strands.

How lightweight do you want the suit to be?

Depending on the type of strand material used, the type of suit material used, and the thickness of the strands. Natural strands, such as jute, are heavier than synthetic strands. If you wear your suit in hot, humid weather, consider choosing a ghillie suit with synthetic strands. If you prefer the natural strands for their lack of odor (such as for hunting) or you wear the suit in colder weather, you may want to consider a suit made with jute strands.

Note that the more strands (artifical or natural) that are tied to the suit, the heavier the suit will be. For a lighter suit and thinner camouflage, remove some of the strands from the suit.

What kind of camouflage do you need?

The color and pattern of the strands should match the area where you will most often be wearing the suit. There are ghillie suits designed to match woodland terrain, mossy areas, deserts, areas with heavy foliage, and more. Find a color and pattern that most closely matches your environment. Then customize the suit by adding or removing strands as needed to perfectly match the landscape.

A wide variety of ghillie suits, ponchos, and sniper suits are available from KillZone Hunting. The two charts below outline the features of each suit to help you decide which suit is the best one for your needs.

Poncho, Sniper, and Ghillie Suit Buying Guide

Ultra Light Ghillie Suit Buying Guide

*Free shipping applies to the lower 48 United States only.
**Note: All specifications are based on the manufacturer’s stated price and product description at time of posting. Prices and specifications are subject to change.

While making your own ghillie suit from scratch may seem like a great idea at first, few people who start this project realize just how much time and energy it takes to make a high quality suit. From cutting out strips of burlap to tying on each strip one piece at a time, the project can take weeks or months to complete.

Unless you have time to kill, purchasing an affordable, high quality ghillie suit might be a better route to take. Ready-made ghillie suits are just as effective and can be customized to fit your needs.

Ghillies come in 2 basic styles: ponchos and suits. They are made from several different materials. Netting, mesh, or a BDU suit is often used for the base, and burlap, jute twine, or synthetic material are used for the strands.

How Ponchos Are Made

Poncho Style

You can easily put on or remove the poncho as needed by slipping it over the top of your clothes. If you need to move through an area of dense brush, simply take off the poncho and roll it into a small bundle.

Most ponchos include a large hood with extra strands that hang over your face for concealment. Since the poncho only hangs down as far as your knees, you can walk through low brush and step over branches without getting caught on every little twig. The downside is that it’s difficult to crawl on the ground or move through dense brush while wearing a poncho.

Another advantage of the poncho is that it’s easily adaptable. You can drape the poncho over any object or stretch it overhead to provide cover and camouflage in a variety of situations.

How Ghillie Suits Are Made

Complete Ghillie Suit

The biggest advantage of a full suit is that it provides full coverage from head to toe. The BDU suit is designed for crawling on the ground, with strands located only on the back half of the suit. The BDU suit is lighter (with only half as many jute strands) and easier to run in. Depending on how you plan to use your suit, you will need to decide whether a ghillie suit (with strands on front and back) or a BDU sniper suit (strands only on back) will best meet your needs.

This type of suit is best for covering open ground. Walking through dense brush is difficult, since the strands tend to get caught on everything. Also, wearing a 3-piece ghillie suit can get fairly hot, so wear light clothing underneath to stay as cool as possible.

Ultra light ghillie suits are lighter, cooler, and more comfortable.

• “Pack the ghillie suit in. Don’t wear it because it gets caught on EVERYTHING!”
• “Wear a camo hat under the hood because it keeps the extra netting or string out of your way when aiming down the sights.”
• “Dress light because those suits can get hot.”
• “Don’t put the gun wrap on a pump action shotgun. Just bad news all around.”
• “The string ones go well in swampy areas, the netting ones go well in leafy areas.”
• “For spring – go mostly green. Fall – mostly brown.”

KillZone has a large number of ghillie suits to choose from, all at affordable prices and FREE shipping to the lower 48 states. For a limited time only, you can save an extra $15 on any KillZone ghillie suit, camo poncho, or sniper suit!

For a limited time only, KillZone is offering a discount coupon for all ghillie suits, sniper BDUs, and ponchos. You can get an extra $15 off any ghillie suit in our store! Simply add the item you want to your shopping cart and enter the code KZG153 in the Discount Codes section before proceeding to the checkout page.

Check out our ghillie suits to shop now!

To take advantage of this great deal, enter the above coupon code in the DISCOUNT CODES box on the shopping cart page.

Blend in like this with a customized ghillie suit!

Some ghillie suits, such as the ghillie suits from KillZone Hunting, come with extra jute threads or synthetic leaves. This allows you to easily customize the ghillie suit as needed. You can add more jute thread or leaves for thicker coverage or a slightly different camo pattern.

For even better camouflage, collect twigs, leaves, and brush from around the area and attach them to your ghillie suit. There’s no better way to blend in with your environment than to borrow nature’s camouflage!

Besides adding more jute strings and natural brush, you can also remove jute thread or synthetic leaves from your ghillie suit. This comes in handy for bowhunters who risk catching the bow or arrow on loose strings.

To modify a ghillie suit for bowhunting, remove the jute or leaves from along the inside arm of the bow hand. Also, remove the jute threads or leaves from part of the chest area, on the same side as your bow hand so you don’t get snagged on the suit while you’re trying to shoot.

Remember to customize your ghillie suit for different seasons as well. In the winter, use more dark brown colors (if no snow) or white and light gray (in snowy areas) or a combination of brown, white, and gray. In the spring and summer, you may need to use more greens to blend in with the foliage. When it comes to customizing your ghillie suit, it all depends on where you live and where you hunt or play!

A sniper ghillie suit gives you full coverage and freedom of movement.

The first step in choosing a ghillie sniper suit is to look at what you need it for. The most common uses for ghillie suits are hunting, paintball or airsoft, military and police missions, and wilderness photography. Think about how much freedom of movement and how much camouflage cover you need to figure out which suit is right for you.

How you move (i.e. at a walk, run, crawl, or crouch) will make a huge difference as to which suit you need to buy…

• If you move at a crouch, you’ll want to choose a jacket and pants set. A poncho or long jacket would only get in the way, since it hangs down below your knees.
• If you crawl on the ground, you’ll want to choose a sniper ghillie suit. A sniper suit with jute material only on the back side of the suit will let you crawl on the ground without snagging on sticks or other objects.
• If you mostly stand or walk upright, either a full-coverage ghillie suit or a ghillie poncho will work for you. If you don’t need as much camouflage below the knees (i.e. your feet are hidden by brush), a poncho will give you plenty of coverage. If you want full coverage, go for a full ghillie suit.
• If you run at all, choose a ghillie suit that lets you move easily, such as a sniper suit. Since it only includes jute material on the back side, you won’t have to worry about tripping on the suit.

Depending on how you plan to use your ghillie suit, here are a few more pieces of advice…

For the most coverage possible (front and back), choose a full ghillie suit set.

• If you use your ghillie suit for hunting, choose a suit with natural jute material to help eliminate scent. Then roll around in the dirt with your suit on to give it an earthy smell.
• If you use your suit for hunting in a treestand, get a jacket and pants set. A poncho or long jacket could get in the way as you climb up to the treestand.
• If you use your suit for paintball, airsoft, or woodsball, choose a lightweight suit to keep cool while you’re running around.
• For military purposes, you’ll most likely need a combination of lightweight material and full coverage.

Final Words of Wisdom…

• If you want the most coverage possible, choose a full ghillie suit instead of a poncho.
• If you want the cheapest ghillie suit you can find, look for a ghillie poncho. Remember that you can customize most ghillie suits to fit your needs.
• Choose a color and camo pattern that matches your typical terrain. Then customize the suit for even better camouflage.

Ghillie suits let you blend in naturally with the surrounding foliage.

Every hunter knows that one of the keys to a successful hunt is camouflage. Some hunters depend on a tree stand or ground blind to keep them hidden and conceal their movements. Ground blinds and tree stands go a long way in keeping your prey from spotting you, but they also have their limits. Moving your blind or hunting stand requires time and effort and can make a lot of noise. It’s not all that quick and easy—or quiet—to move to a new location once you’ve set up your blind or stand.

What can you do if you want to be able to move around freely instead of being stuck in one location? For hunters who like to be on the move, ghillie suits are the answer. With a ghillie suit, you can forget about waiting for your prey to come to you. You can easily go wherever the hunting is good. The ghillie suit lets you stay under cover as you move around or hide out in the brush.

Since there’s no bulky equipment to set up, you can hunt in areas with little natural cover and even wide open spaces without attracting attention as an unnatural part of the landscape. A camo ghillie suit lets you stay under the radar and frees your hunting instincts. If you want hunting without the hassle of extra equipment, try wearing a ghillie suit on your next hunt.

Blend in with your natural surroundings
with a ghillie suit from KillZone Hunting!

Ghillie suits allow hunters to get closer than ever to deer, turkeys, and other game without spooking the animals. They keep the hunter well camouflaged while hunting on the ground, on the move, or from a tree stand. Hunters who prefer a stalking technique over hunting from blinds or stands often wear ghillie suits to conceal themselves from their prey.

Ghillie suits allow paintball and airsoft players to remain incognito while sneaking up on the enemy in simulated combat games. They also allow wilderness photographers to get close-up photos of animals in their natural setting.

KillZone Hunting offers ghillie suits with leaf camo, desert camo, and woodland camo to blend in with any terrain. Each suit also includes a fire retardant spray mixture and extra jute strands that allow the user to customize the suit to a specific environment or activity.

The ghillie poncho is available in either woodland or desert camouflage. It’s a lightweight cover made from natural jute strands tied to a comfortable netting underlayment that easily slips over the user’s clothing with a universal fit.

The sniper ghillie suit is available in two sizes with a woodland camo pattern and includes a BDU tactical jacket, pants, and hat. This suit is also made from natural jute strands attached to netting. The BDU suit is made from a durable cotton/poly blend. The pants include 10 pockets and the button-up jacket includes 4 pockets.

The 3-piece ghillie suit is available in two sizes with woodland or leaf camo. This suit comes with a zippered net mesh jacket, net mesh pants with an adjustable drawstring, and a net mesh head covering. The natural jute strand material can be added or removed as needed.

For more information, see the full ghillie suit product description.