guilly suit...is it any good?

[short slugger]

I bought a rancho safari guilly suit with face mask, hoping to do well with it. I got in the middle of a U-shaped blowdown with some walking around room of about 2' x 7' inside of the sticks and wild roses. I cleared out the leaves for quiet movement, and sat on a 2 foot wooden stepladder with a camo cushion strapped on top. I am only a towering 5'7" tall, and this set-up has me almost near standing position when needed to stand. I  had a squirel come within 3 yds. and began to eat. Not bad, I thought, but that is only a squirel. What does he know? Then some time later, I stood to look in the direction of some sound I was hearing. Standing perfectly still, I heard something coming my way to the left. It was an 18-20 lbs. grey fox coming straight for me. I lowered my bow and slowly tried to turn toward him, but was unable to face him because of his speed. The fox stopped at 2 yds., just looking around at the area for about 25 secs. Then he hopped on a log and jumped into the blowdown with me, standing only 1 yd. behind me. I could have kicked him in the tail!  After a 20 sec. scoping out the area, he moved on, still doing his hunting. I was down wind of the fox the whole time, but could not believe he never knew I was there. Did I outsmart a fox? Could I do the same with a deer? I have never hunted on the ground before, but that was very encouraging! How good is a guilly suit!

[doowop]

Works the same on deer. Just watch the wind.

[terencepinder]

im not familliar with the rancho safari suit but i have made my own and the only advice i can give is to practice while wearing the suit. when layers are put on it can affect your shooting. just my 2cents
happyhunting terence pinder

[Oogaboogachiefwalkingdeer]

Ghillie is real good to hide in just about any type of cover, however I agree practice shooting you might be glad you did. I can shoot rifle and shotgun no problem with the ghilie I made. To be flat out honest I can not shoot the bow with it at all. The strings on the ghilie will catch the bow string every time slowing the arrow. Mike Smyth

[21cenlongbowhunter]

I was planning on buying a Ghillie from rancho safari  but now I have to wait due to the fire
 :(

[T Folts]

SS
The proof is in your post, if you dont move and are down wind a Deer will not see you, I used one this year for the first time and killed a 5 point buck at 15 yards from the ground. He came in and laid down 20-25 yards away looking in my direction most of the time and never knew I was there. He stood up walked past me at 15 yards I drew when his head went behind a tree and shot him. You will love the suit.

Terry

[MI_Bowhunter]

If your own exp doesn't convince you, nothing else here can.

I don't have one, yet, but I've not heard anything negative about them other then to be carefull when hunting public land when other hunters are around, esp. during the gun seasons.  Some people like to use the hands on identification method.

[Shaun]

Practice shooting is a must. I had to trim virtually ALL the stuff off inside of the bow arm sleeve to make the string clear. Mine came with instuctions and the manufacture said that some folks like to trim this sleeve but they recommend hacking all the possibly offending stuff out of the way. Draw your bow and look at what hangs in the path of the string - hack it off.

I was nearly run over by the buck I shot wearing mine last fall.

[jeff / sc]

Yea they work...trim the sleeve real good...pay attention the the wind...don't be afarid to move if the wind changes...setup with some cover behind you.  As long as you don't move at the wrong time, the ghillie will let you get by with little or no cover in front of you.  Killed a doe at 7 yds last year with a blow down behind me and only a couple of weeds in front of me.

[slayer1]

Does rancho safari make the best one? Did you guys use the long coat or the short? Does the boonie work better than the hood?

[penetrator]

go to ghilliesuit.com,they have a large selection.they even have one with the sleeves trimmed for bowhunting.

[carphunter100]

I have the pants, jacket and the bonnie, I like the boonie beter than the hood. My buddy cut the hood from his coat and pined it on a boonie. The only thing that will hurt you is wind, or quick movement. I love my gillie I hunt from tree stands but will not think twice about getting on the ground. You will love it the more you hunt in it. I have killed several turkeys in mine also.

[Lefty]

21cenlongbowhunter,
  If you are looking for one, I have a Rancho Safari ultra-lightweight one, I might trade for something.  I trimmed the headnet and hat just enough to see, but never trimmed the longcoat.  I got it thinking I might use it, but still find myself mostly in a tree or my DB blind.  Shoot me a PM if you are interested.

[Doc Nock]

Cabellas shows a "synthetic ghillie" that is lightweight "string" material... sewn on bug proof mesh. Much lighter. And the bug factor might be nice. FWIW

[Recurve50LBS]

I've been using Cabelas TCS Ghilly suit and have had a flock of turkeys 3-5 yards away from me on more than 3 occasions this week alone. If you can fool the sharp eyes of a half dozen turkeys thats pretty good. I have also had tree rats jump on me while wearing this suit. I also fooled a couple kids riding atvs close to my stand. Freaked them out for sure.LOL I wore it last year for Halloween and scared my own kid when he came over to my house. I had a ton of fun with whoever came to my door looking for candy. I was sitting on a stool next to the front door outside.

[Doc Nock]

Originally posted by Recurve50LBS:
 I had a ton of fun with whoever came to my door looking for candy. I was sitting on a stool next to the front door outside.

Now that is what I call a 4-season use of hunting gear! Dang..might be a solution to the folks eroding steep hillsides illegally riding 1200# horse up steep slopes on PA state game lands and instead of staying on the roads/trails as required!      :eek:

[jeff / sc]

I have the light wt long coat with boonie and face mask (both included with coat).  Never used the hood, but like the boonie...you need to do some trimming on it also.

[short slugger]

Hey! I went out this afternoon for the 2nd time in the guilly suit. At 4pm I stood to stretch, and was standing still, and a hawk flew to a branch at eye level 4 yds. away and looked around for maybe 45 secs. Never knew I was there! First a squirel, then fox , now a hawk..Did I outsmart a fox, and fool the eyes of a hawk? Yes,sir! Deer was next..At 5pm a doe comes across the creek from my tree I was up against. I shot 3X...yes 3 at the same doe..hit brush and small crap 2x at 15 and 10 yds. I was dodging fence posts, barbed wire, and trying to shoot thru a small wooden window and missed each. The 3rd shot was at 17 yds, and she jumped the string. She picked me out the third time and stared me down for a while, but soon went back to feeding along creek. I just flat missed! But am I ever encouraged!The doe never knew how close she came to my grill! I have taken 2 already with my longbows from a treestand, but I am loving the ground! Thanks for listening, guys!

[BAK]

The suits are scary effective, but are hard to master shooting a bow with.    Lots of stuff hanging around to get caught on the bow string.  I used one to take a doe a 12 feet last night.

[Gary Logsdon]

I've only had my Rancho Safari "Shaggie Longcoat" for 3 days and have already had  squirrels in my lap! While sitting on a tripod stool, one squirrel jumped up in my lap, then a second went after him and bumped him off! FUNNY FEELING!  I trimmed my bow arm and some of the mask - no problems shooting now.  I ordered mine from Three Rivers due to the recent CA fires and the closing of Rancho Safari.