Fieldcraft How to veg up properly?

[Grande]

I was attaching some long grass on this base garment and after a while realized I have no clue of what I'm going. Used elastic loops to attach a tuft of grass blades folded roughly 3/4 way down.
Blades of grass eventually ended up pointing everywhere (after giving the suit a good shaking to see if everything stays on) resulting in a unnatural tall-grassy-mound-look.


Decided to sit down and think about this for a minute and while doing so I grabbed the garment upside down, by accident, resulting in the grass blades flowing along with the jute instead of sticking out.


As far as attachment points go I've tried using rubber bands (these were too long and slim ones), pipe cleaners, pieces of paracord and elastic loops...and of course weaving the veg into the netting itself.

There has to be a better way of doing this, also would like to know what tips/techniques are used for other materials.


Thanks in advance for the great, informative tips!

 

[Victory]

550 cord.

Your first one isn't bad. Vegging is a constant process that changes depending on what is in front of you and what is behind you. No veg will match perfectly standing 5 feet away. You are breaking up your outline and attempting to not give your enemy any target indicators. Your route to your final firing point and selection is just as important as your veg. You could have a great veg, but if you decide to crawl out in front of your target laterally without using low lying areas, you will probably be spotted and walked in on.

I have a bunch of pics we use in our PPT camo class that I could post up for you, if you want instant gratification, I'm sure you could google some.

As for the grass, just grab a bunch from the base until you have a good handful. Take that bunch and place it with your 550 tie down. Where you are at in your stalk will determine how you place it. If you are still a ways out and will be able to walk or hand and knees crawl, the placement would be different than if you are re-vegging just outside of your FFP and will be low crawling the rest of the way.

 

[Grande]

My e-mail is [email protected]
Feel free to send reference photos there if you're not comfortable adding them to this thread.

I've been trying to google the subject and found Reaper 33's brief guide, thats about it. Found Shay's most excellent veg up shots on this forum, but that suit is so well garnished I can't see whats what or how he achieved the end result.

 

[Redmanss]

Avoid using the young brighter grass that isn't typically visible from the distance. I took a >300m bust for that very reason once, and for those that don't know that's basically totally buggering a stalk and you thrash dearly for it after bear crawling that entire distance back to the truck.

I would grab a section of grass and use a knife or clippers to cut only the top sections, leaving the bottom 6in or so alone. Keep in mind at what level that section of your ghillie will be at, and match that level of the terrain.

 

[Grande]

Roger that!
Great pointer, didn't think about my overall height with the suit on. It's a whole new ball game now.

 

[Grande]

Any tips on how to attach the veg on to my suit or do I just stuff it in at random and try to match my surroundings?
Big bundles, small bundles, weaving it in one by one and losing my mind in the process?
If using 550 cord do you double knot the veg so it stays on forever or what?

 

[Redmanss]

The base layer that I attached the burlap (jute) to was made of a cut up net hammock attached to a set of cammies via Shoe Goo and zip ties. This had about 2" squares and you shove the veg into those to hold it. Weaving in the veg typically results in a less than desirable effect of breaking up your outline, but can be done a little bit. Grass just gets shoved in most of the time. I NEVER tied or otherwise attached veg in any other way. Expect to lose a bit of veg while moving requiring replacement periodically mid stalk, but this is also necessary most of the time as you move into different types of terrain.

Spread the veg around evenly, small bunches. If you use clumps of veg and that doesn't exist in the terrain naturally, what did you just do? Look at the terrain and mimic it, especially whatever your background will be if you're off of your belly.