WOODSRUNNER SCHOOL • SOUTH CAROLINA • EST. 2016
Woodsrunner School provides hands-on outdoor education built on knowledge, skills, sound judgment, and real field experience.
Since 2016, we have helped people become more capable and confident outdoors while preserving and passing on the skills and traditions of the outdoor life.
Whether you are just beginning or have spent years in the woods, there is always something more to learn, practice, experience, and carry forward.
WHY TRAINING MATTERS
The outdoors has a way of teaching lessons that cannot be learned anywhere else. Good training develops more than outdoor knowledge. It shapes judgment, builds confidence, strengthens decision-making, and changes the way you approach time in the woods.
The more you learn, the more capable you become. And the more capable you become, the more opportunities you have to camp, hike, hunt, fish, travel, explore, prepare for the unexpected, and spend meaningful time outdoors with family and friends.
There is always another skill to improve, another problem to solve, another place to explore, and another opportunity to put what you know to work. Whether you are preparing for emergencies, developing new skills, pursuing an outdoor interest, or simply wanting to become more capable in the woods, every hour invested in good training becomes something you carry with you.
Because training does not just prepare you for the outdoors. It changes the way you experience it.
THE WOODSRUNNER WAY
Woodsrunner was built around a simple idea: People become more capable outdoors by learning good skills, putting those skills into practice, gaining real experience, and continuing to grow over time.
Learning does not end when a course is over. Skills become more useful when they are practiced. Knowledge becomes more valuable when it is applied. Experience develops through time spent doing the things you have learned.
That is why everything we do is built around three guiding principles.
Develop knowledge, skills, and sound judgment through hands-on instruction and field-based training. Learn it. Practice it. Put it to work.
Woodsrunner training is organized into three divisions: Wilderness Readiness, Woodland Living, and Outdoor Pursuits. Each provides opportunities to continue learning as your interests, experience, and abilities grow.
EXPLORE TRAINING →Training is only the beginning. Spend time in the woods. Use what you have learned. Try new things. Make mistakes. Solve problems. Learn from other people. Return to skills you already know and discover things you have never tried before.
Woodsrunner Field Days and other outdoor experiences provide opportunities to keep learning beyond a formal course, gain experience, and enjoy the traditions of the outdoor life in the company of others.
DISCOVER WOODSRUNNER FIELD DAYS →Capability carries responsibility. Learn to make good decisions. Help others when you can. Share knowledge responsibly. Set a good example in the outdoors and help preserve the skills and traditions that were passed down to us.
Leadership does not always mean becoming an instructor. Sometimes it means helping a friend, teaching a child, sharing what you know around camp, making a sound decision when others are depending on you, or simply setting a good example.
For those who want to take that responsibility further, Woodsrunner provides a pathway into instructor development, teaching, mentoring, and leadership.
EXPLORE INSTRUCTOR DEVELOPMENT →THREE WAYS TO KEEP LEARNING
No two people come to Woodsrunner for exactly the same reason. Some want to be better prepared when something goes wrong. Some want to learn how to camp, travel, cook, navigate, and live more capably in the woods. Some want to become better hunters, anglers, hikers, campers, and outdoorsmen and outdoorswomen.
Others want to try something new, gain experience, deepen skills they already have, or simply spend more meaningful time outdoors. And many students discover that one interest leads naturally to another. That is why Woodsrunner is not built around a single course or a single definition of outdoor skill.
Our training is organized into three distinct divisions, giving students room to continue learning and growing over time.
TRAINING DIVISION
Prepare for the unexpected.
Develop the knowledge, skills, judgment, and experience to respond when an ordinary day outdoors becomes something more serious.
Learn how to think clearly, solve problems, make good decisions, and take care of yourself and others when circumstances change.
EXPLORE WILDERNESS READINESS →TRAINING DIVISION
Learn to live more capably in the woods.
Develop the campcraft, woodsmanship, field skills, knowledge, and judgment that make camping, traveling, cooking, navigating, and spending time in woodland environments more capable and enjoyable. Woodland Living draws from generations of proven outdoor knowledge while recognizing that outdoorsmen and outdoorswomen today may choose traditional equipment, modern equipment, or a thoughtful combination of both.
Canvas and nylon.
Fire and stove.
Map and compass.
Old knowledge and modern application.
The equipment may change. Good judgment, useful skills, and time-tested principles remain. Woodland Living helps preserve and carry forward the traditions and knowledge that generations of outdoorsmen and outdoorswomen once considered part of everyday life in the woods.
EXPLORE WOODLAND LIVING →TRAINING DIVISION
Put outdoor knowledge and skills to work doing the things that bring us into the woods in the first place.
Develop knowledge, confidence, and experience through hunting, fishing, hiking, camping, and other outdoor pursuits.
Outdoor Pursuits gives students opportunities to continue developing through the activities they already enjoy while discovering new reasons to spend time outside.
EXPLORE OUTDOOR PURSUITS →NOT SURE WHERE TO BEGIN?
You do not need to understand our entire curriculum before coming to Woodsrunner. You do not need years of outdoor experience. Start with what you want to do.
Maybe you want to prepare for an emergency. Maybe you want to become more comfortable and capable spending time in the woods. Maybe you want to learn woodland living skills or improve your hunting, fishing, hiking, navigation, campcraft, or other outdoor skills.
Maybe you already spend a great deal of time outdoors and simply want to become better at what you do. Or maybe you know you want to learn and are not sure where to begin.
We can help you find the Woodsrunner training or experience that best fits what you are looking for.
FIND YOUR COURSE
WOODSRUNNER FIELD DAYS
Not everything worth learning needs to happen during a formal course. For generations, outdoor knowledge was passed from one person to another around campfires, along trails, in hunting camps, beside rivers, and during ordinary days spent in the woods.
People learned by watching. By listening. By doing. And by spending time with people who knew something they did not.
Woodsrunner Field Days carry that tradition forward. Inspired by the great American tradition of camping and woodcraft, Field Days create opportunities to gather, learn, practice skills, share meals, spend time around the fire, meet other outdoorsmen and outdoorswomen, and enjoy a good day in the woods.
They also give students somewhere to return after a course is over. A place to practice. A place to learn something new. A place to spend time with people who share an interest in the outdoor life.
Some days will teach you something new. Some will give you a chance to practice something you already know. Some may introduce you to the next skill you want to learn. And sometimes the most valuable part will simply be the people you meet and the time you spend together.
DISCOVER WOODSRUNNER FIELD DAYS →FEATURED TRAINING
Outdoor education does not have to end with one course. Featured courses and experiences will rotate throughout the year from Wilderness Readiness, Woodland Living, and Outdoor Pursuits.
Come learn something new. Return to something you want to improve. Or discover an interest that takes you somewhere you did not expect.
EXPLORE ALL TRAINING →UPCOMING AT WOODSRUNNER
Browse upcoming courses, Woodsrunner Field Days, workshops, and special programs.
THOSE WHO TEACH
Woodsrunner instructors bring different backgrounds, experiences, knowledge, and areas of expertise to the field. What brings them together is a commitment to teaching well, continuing to learn, and passing useful knowledge and skills on to others.
Our instructors are here to explain, demonstrate, coach, correct, encourage, and help students put what they are learning to work. They are students of the outdoor life themselves, because there is always more to learn.
Good outdoor knowledge has always been passed from one person to another. We believe that is still one of the best ways to learn.
MEET YOUR INSTRUCTORS →WHY WOODSRUNNER?
You can learn a tremendous amount from books, videos, podcasts, and the people around you. We believe in all of them. But eventually, you have to put your hands on something and do it.
You have to build the fire. Read the terrain. Set the camp. Use the tool. Make the decision. Deal with the weather. Solve the problem.
That is where Woodsrunner comes in.
Woodsrunner School was established in 2016, but the experience behind the instruction reaches much further. Our instructors bring decades of outdoor practice, professional service, teaching, and field experience to the courses they lead.
We explain. We demonstrate. You practice. Then you begin putting what you have learned to work.
The goal is not simply remembering information. It is developing knowledge, skills, judgment, and experience.
Outdoor skills make sense outdoors.
Our students learn in real woodland environments where weather changes, ground is uneven, equipment gets dirty, problems have to be solved, and experience becomes part of the lesson.
Woodsrunner was never meant to be a place where everyone takes the same class and goes home. Different interests lead in different directions.
A survival course may lead to navigation. Navigation may lead to hiking. Camping may lead to camp cookery, woodcraft, hunting, fishing, or something entirely different.
As your interests and abilities grow, Woodsrunner gives you opportunities to keep learning, practicing, and spending time in the woods.
INSTRUCTOR DEVELOPMENT
There comes a point when learning becomes more than what you can do for yourself. Knowledge becomes something you can use to help another person. Experience becomes something worth sharing.
For those who feel called to teach, mentor, and lead others outdoors, Woodsrunner Instructor Development provides a pathway for developing not only outdoor knowledge and skills, but the ability to teach them responsibly.
Good instructors do more than demonstrate a skill. They learn how to communicate, observe, correct, encourage, make sound decisions, and help another person grow.
The knowledge and traditions of the outdoor life survived because people were willing to pass them on. We intend to keep doing the same.
EXPLORE INSTRUCTOR DEVELOPMENT →OUR STORY
Woodsrunner did not begin as an idea for a website or a brand. It grew from time spent teaching people outdoors. Since 2016, students and instructors have gathered in the woods to learn, practice, solve problems, share knowledge, sit around campfires, and gain experience.
Over the years, courses have changed. The school has grown. New ideas have been added and old lessons have been refined. Modern equipment has changed what people carry into the woods.
But many of the things that make someone capable outdoors have changed very little.
Knowledge.
Skill.
Judgment.
Practice.
Experience.
And time spent in the woods.
The heart of Woodsrunner has stayed much the same. Teach useful things. Give people a chance to do them. Spend time in the woods. Keep learning. And pass what we know on to somebody else.
READ OUR STORY →FIELD NOTES
Some lessons deserve more room than a course can give them. Field Notes is where Woodsrunner continues the conversation beyond scheduled training—through articles, observations, hands-on instruction, outdoor history, gear and fieldcraft notes, lessons from the woods, and ideas worth passing on.
Some Field Notes will answer useful questions. Some will preserve useful knowledge. Some will explore the traditions that shaped the outdoor life. And some will simply share what we continue to learn through teaching, practicing, and spending time in the woods.
The goal is the same as everything else at Woodsrunner: Keep learning. Put useful knowledge to work. And pass it on.
NEW TO WOODSRUNNER?
Coming somewhere new usually brings a few questions. What should I expect? What should I bring? Where do I go when I arrive? What is the training like? Do I need experience?
We have brought the information you need together in one place. You do not have to arrive knowing everything.
Come ready to learn, participate, ask questions, and put your hands on what we are teaching. Start with our Prepare section before you come.
STAY CONNECTED
Learning does not end when you leave the woods. The Field Letter shares outdoor knowledge, Field Notes, and news about upcoming courses, Woodsrunner Field Days, and special programs.
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YOUR NEXT STEP
Every person's journey into the outdoors starts somewhere. And wherever you begin does not have to be where you stop.
You may want to prepare for the unexpected. You may want to learn how to live more capably in the woods. You may want to become a better camper, hiker, hunter, angler, or outdoorsman or outdoorswoman.
You may already have years of experience and be looking for something new to learn. You may want to gain experience, spend more meaningful time outdoors, or eventually pass what you know on to somebody else.
Start where you are. Learn something useful. Put it to work. Come back and learn something else.
Wherever you are starting, come ready to learn. Come ready to participate. Come ready to gain some experience.
We hope to see you around the campfire, on the trail, and in the woods.
