Presented here are DIY (do it yourself) instructions to build our full coverage Ghillie Suit Poncho from one of our Ghillie Suit Kits that can be purchased on our store. There is also the Jute Ghillie Kit option if you prefer the traditional burlap style material.The ghillie kit comes with a 5′ by 9′ piece of netting and enough bundles to give you proper coverage. You do not want a very thick suit as this will make you stick out and the objective is just to break up your outline to blend in with the surroundings.
You can decide now if you want the Large Poncho or the Regular size one. We sell only the Large as you can cut this down to your size. The Large is for a person over 6′ 2″ iin height. The netting is 9′ long or 109″. To make the regular size just cut the netting to 97″ Cut the hood piece first from the main body piece.Important: Cut the hood piece first from the main body piece.
Cut The Excess From The Four Corners
The entire build is depicted in diagram 1 below. You are looking at the full 5′ by 9′ piece of netting. On each of the 4 corners you will be cutting off strips of excess material 15″ wide by 35″ or 41″ depending on if you wan the large or regular size.
The Hood can be cut form any of the 4 pieces you just cut out. Simply cut down one of these pieces to be 15″ by 31″ and you can disgard the remaining piece. You can mak a rifle wrap by tying the ends of the remaining pieces together. A good ghillie rifle wrap will be 6″ by 6′ long so there is plenty of netting left over.
In Diagram 1. You can see in the middle of the netting is the area for the collar. You will cut this later. It is easier to tie on the string material now and cut it later.
Start Tying On the String Material
1) Start attaching the Jute thread to the Bottom row first. Attach 4-5 strands at a time to every square. You will mix the 4-5 strands to make your preferred pattern
2. As seen in Diagram 1, Skip the 2nd row, Tie the 3rd, Skip 4, then Tie 5, Etc. This is showin in orange
3. When you reach the Collar area, all 9 rows should be tied. This means all 9 rows in the middle of the netting. 4 rows in the front, 3 in the back and 2 on either side. This is where you will later cut the netting for the collar. Do not skip rows around the middle of the netting as this will end up being the top of the shoulders and around the collar. And you do not want it to be thin coverage.
Do the same with the hood. Make the Hood by attaching the Jute string to horizontal square. (See Diagram #2)
When the entire Netting is completed, Fold it in Half.
5) Tie both ends of the Sleeves together with the Jute Thread making a simple knot to hold them together. Do the same for the other side.
(Remember to only Tie the 16″ of the sleeves !)
6. Fold the Hood in Half, tie the last row together with string as in diagram 2. Folded in lenth wise and only one side will be tied together.
7. Diagram 1. Cut a 15″ hole in the middle of the Netting for the Collar.
8. Tie the Hood on the Collar by starting with the middle seam of the hood where you tied it together, and work your way around the collar so it ties toward the front. If the Collar is 15″ in the back, 1″ on the side, 15″ in the front, and 1″ on the side, a total of 32″ around. And the Hood is 12″ + 12″ from the other side, then when you come to the end of the hood being tied, you will have 8 Collar squares in the front left over. Each side of the Hood will have wrapped around the Collar.
The finished Ghillie Tracker Poncho
This is a time consuming project and working with experince it will take at least 4 hours to assemble. There will be about 2996 Knots. At 8 Knots/Min. = 6.24 Hours to Assemble. You can skip all this and buy the completed ghillie poncho here
You are not tying the bottom part of the poncho together because this will give you more freedom to move around and also make it easier to take on and off.