Ghillie Suit Users.....

[Roger Norris]

Do you trim your bow arm or just cut the sleeve off?

I have a Rancho Safari long coat, getting serious about my ground game. The quality of that sleeve is so perfect .....so far I have trimmed everything almost bare....what do you folks think? I hate to cut it off.

[Michael Guran]

I have sapper kill suite and cut the sleeve off. I trimmed the chest a little, but couldn't get the bow arm trimmed to my liking. It works good without the sleeve, but, it's not nearly as nice as a rancho safari suit so I would probably spend a little more time trimming and cut the sleeve off as a last resort.

[wood carver 2]

Rancho Safari sells a long arm guard that covers up past the elbow. I have used with bulky clothes. If you already trimmed the sleeve, the guard should be good with what's left.
Dave.

[mjh]

Trim high and tight and use an arm guard, never have had any issues.

I'm using a Bushrag synthetic kit gillie that I put together......

[Pine]

I trim the bow arm and part of the chest area that the string gets close to.

[Ray Lyon]

Basically cut mine off

[ed lash]

Huh. It never dawned on me to remove the whole sleeve. I use the long and short coat from Rancho. I've just always aggressively trimmed the sleeve and chest area. These things work.

[TooManyHobbies]

I made mine. Only put jute on back side of arm, trimmed anything that hung in the way. Kept my left breast bare of jute. Wear arm guard to keep it tight. It's been a couple years since I've worn it.

[David McLendon]

I use a 3under hard sighting system and do not cant my bow so, I trim the inside and frequently add to certain areas along the outside.

[Roger Norris]

Huh. It never dawned on me to remove the whole sleeve. I use the long and short coat from Rancho. I've just always aggressively trimmed the sleeve and chest area. These things work.

Yeah, I see a ton of folks on YouTube that just cut it off.

I'm not going to. It's too high of quality product to butcher. I have it trimmed pretty tight on sleeve and left chest.

[Orion]

I have a Rancho Safari as well.  Last year, I trimmed it all over just to reduce weight and bulk a little.  Regardless, a long arm guard keeps the material there out of the way.  Mine is constructed mostly of jute/burlap and smells like it.  Is there any way to get the smell out?  I've washed it once (That's a helluva job), let it air in the sun for weeks.  Still smells like jute.  I use it for turkey, but not so much for deer because of the smell. 

[Roger Norris]

I have a Rancho Safari as well.  Last year, I trimmed it all over just to reduce weight and bulk a little.  Regardless, a long arm guard keeps the material there out of the way.  Mine is constructed mostly of jute/burlap and smells like it.  Is there any way to get the smell out?  I've washed it once (That's a helluva job), let it air in the sun for weeks.  Still smells like jute.  I use it for turkey, but not so much for deer because of the smell.

I have used my for turkeys mostly....this year will be the first year I am serious about ground hunting. I plan on letting it sit out in the rain, then air drying it....after that keeping it in a tub with dirt, pine bows, etc....

[Archie]

Here's what I did, and it worked.  But I didn't use it much, so I have no hunting success with it to speak of...

I bought a thin, inexpensive fleece-type jacket, then cut a lot of it away.  The right arm, gone at the shoulder.  Chunks cut out of the chest area.  But I left a little area over my left chest/shoulder to hold the ghillie material out of the path of the bowstring.  And I cut the back side of the left sleeve off, all the way to the cuff.  I left a strip above the elbow, and a strip below, to hold it together.  So basically, I had a long left sleeve with three giant rectangular chunks cut out of the back side of it.  Then I pulled that over my Rancho Safari long coat.  I pulled the ghillie material through the holes I'd cut in the fleece thing, so it would still accomplish its purpose for concealment.  When I wore the thing, I put my short leather armguard on in its normal position, over the modified sleeve of my cut-up fleece jacket, and over the arm of the long coat.  I put it on in such a way that when I stretched my bow arm out to draw my bow, the modified fleece jacket sleeve pulled tight against my arm (from the shoulder) and pulled all the ghillie stuff out of the way.  YMMV.

[MnFn]

I modified mine by cutting a slit on the underside of the arm so that I could slide pretty much my whole arm out, bit still have the sleeve to use if I want.

Amazing how well it works.

[frassettor]

I trimmed mine but also use the full length arm guard I purchased from them. 

[Kirkll]

I trimmed the chest a bit on mine as well as the sleeve. But what i found as the best arm guard you can get for coats and ghillie suits both is cutting the toe out of a knee high nylon stocking, or knee high tights. The tights or support stockings are more durable.

WARNING!!!  Buy your own and don't raid your wives stocking drawer or you'll be in hot water... With this type of arm guard, even if your string was to brush that nylon material it has no effect on string at all. It compresses your sleeve nicely, and is easily put on or taken off... I keep a couple in my pack at all times.     Kirk

[Lefty]

Like wood carver said, I used a long armguard, that went from my wrist to above my elbow.  I did still trim the chest some, but didn't have to trim a ton on the arm.

[David McLendon]

I have a Rancho Safari as well.  Last year, I trimmed it all over just to reduce weight and bulk a little.  Regardless, a long arm guard keeps the material there out of the way.  Mine is constructed mostly of jute/burlap and smells like it.  Is there any way to get the smell out?  I've washed it once (That's a helluva job), let it air in the sun for weeks.  Still smells like jute.  I use it for turkey, but not so much for deer because of the smell.

I have used my for turkeys mostly....this year will be the first year I am serious about ground hunting. I plan on letting it sit out in the rain, then air drying it....after that keeping it in a tub with dirt, pine bows, etc....

At the beginning of the season, I'll mud mine, like we do our layout blinds for waterfowl, and hang them outside to dry then shake them out and beat them with a broom. That takes away any sheen as some types of the leafy material will flash in the sun. After mudding they'll smell like dirt for a long time, and you'll get dirty but it does the job and helps it to blend in the woods. Tying in a small amount of natural material will help, particularly if aromatic like Cedar. A little goes a long way there.

[Terry Green]

I trimmed the inside of mine real low, along with the left pec area.  I saw no reason to cut the whole sleeve off.  They also may a real long arm guard but I never used it.

[lcamp319]

I cut my netting part of the left sleeve where the sleeve meets the body.  I cut from the arm pit around the front next to the sleeve/boby seam to the top, on the shoulder.  Then I pull the sleeve inside out, so the sleeve is actually inside the coat.  When bow hunting, simply stick my arm through the hole I cut and have no ghillie parts on my arm.  If gun hunting, I pull the sleeve out to normal and have full ghillie