HUNTING IN A GHILLIE SUIT
Ever dreamed of being invisible?
IN SCOTLAND, ‘GHILLIE’ refers to a ma n or b oy who attends someone on a hunting or fishing expedition and the ghillie suit was created by Scottish gamekeepers as a portable hunting blind. It camouflages the shooter’s en body from the legs to the neck, even the head, and renders one near invisible when stalking or waiting in ambush. It’s especially popular with bow hunters who have tog et very close to ensure a clean kill.
I prefer to walk and stalk alone in the hunting field, as a single person makes less noise, and I can dictate the pace of movement, which is mostly slow while scanning the surrounding area every few metres. Proper camo worn on the body is best suited for this, as it a llows me to stalk in close for the shot.
The first time I used a ghillie suit was during a blesbuck hunt on an open grass plain with virtually no cover. The local blesbuck population had developed a habit of practically ‘grazing on the run’ if they spotted a vehicle or a hunter on foot. Taking shots at distances between 200m and 400m was the norm.
The suit is also perfect for wingshooting and I have successfully used it on numerous occasions to shoot rock pigeons. These birds have exceptional eyesight and good camo is mandatory
ON MY ARRIVAL, I parked my vehicle, which the blesbuck immediately spotted and departed at high speed. I dressed up in my suit and set off on foot. Soon I spotted a good ram in a bachelor herd and went down on all fours to slowly edge closer. When I was about 70m from my quarry, the herd suddenly spooked and hightailed for greener pastures. Confused I looked around, only to see a farm worker on horseback passing close to where the herd had been standing.
I was about to get up when I heard a noise behind me; to my surprise it was two blesbuck rams. They were almost on top of me and oblivious of my presence. I very slowly turned to face them and lifted my rifle. They stood still, apparently confused by the suit which looked like a grass bale. I shot the bigger ram. My rifle was fitted with a suppressor, so the second animal was unalarmed by the report and remained in place, confused by his companion’s sudden collapse. I could have bagged him as well, but declined as I had only
one blesbuck on my list. Only after I’d stood up, did the second animal react, running off for a few metres then stopping to look back at me. It was abundantly clear that my new suit was working well.
Since then I have used the suit to ambush quite a few warthogs during the day and even bushpigs at night. A particular sounder of bushpigs that was very skittish at the baiting spot had me stumped on numerous occasions and I decided to ambush them using the ghillie suit. I was in position just before last light and waited with my back against a thorn tree some 25m away. It was a cold night but fortunately the suit kept me warm. During the wait, two blackbacked jackals paraded up and down in front of me, unaware of my presence, and later a porcupine nearly ended on my lap.
IT WAS A dark, moonless night and I sat uncomfortably under my tree, listening to the night sounds, every so often scanning the bait with a night vision device. Eventually I heard pigs approaching. They suddenly appeared next to the bait as if using a trapdoor – twelve in the sounder – and immediately began feeding. I gave them a few minutes to settle, then switched on an infrared light and took aim at the first boar to present a shot. He dropped on the spot and the rest scattered into the surrounding thickets.
I stayed motionless and about ten minutes later they were back. I repeated the same procedure as before, felling one, and again the sounder scattered into the surrounding thicket. I waited, as I could hear the bushpigs calling to each other. About 20 minutes later, some returned, but I rushed the shot and completely missed a young boar. This was enough to persuade the remainder to head for safety. Later, I saw on a trail camera that the sounder had returned to the spot but only during the morning hours, long after I had left.
One of my most memorable walkand-stalk hunts while wearing my ghillie suit took place in a thorn-tree thicket when looking for a young impala ram. After leaving my vehicle I climbed a small hill to scan the area and spotted impala grazing in the thickets. In this terrain the suit can be a disadvantage as it often gets entangled in thorn branches and you have to stop frequently to free yourself. With the wind blowing in my face, I moved at a snail’s pace, and soon found the impala among the thorns. Now in full stalk mode, I moved only when the impala were looking away and grazing.
Before long this brought me within about 20 metres of the closest animal, and eventually I managed to sneak in among the herd without any of the impala being aware. This created a new problem in that the young ram I was targeting was too close to me to be visible in my scope. I had to move back about 20 metres before taking the shot. The rifle was fitted with a suppressor, and at the shot, the rest of the herd acted confused, clearly unsure of what had happened, with some even moving
in my direction.
THE SUIT IS also perfect for wingshooting and I have successfully used it on numerous occasions to shoot rock pigeons. These birds have exceptional eyesight and good camo is mandatory.
The ghillie suit is certainly not traditional South African hunting attire, but it works exceptionally well and is now my preferred choice when dressing for hunting.