A hunter was treated for hypothermia yesterday after he became disoriented and spent the night "hunkered down" in Dunedin bush.
A police spokeswoman said a concerned woman called police just after 8.30am after her son-in-law failed to return home from a hunting trip.
The man was on a hunting trip with another relation, she said.
The pair had not taken supplies with them for an overnight stay.
One of the men was an experienced hunter, she said.
The mother-in-law believed the men were hunting on a property near the end of North Rd in Upper Junction.
Police searched in the area, Mt Cargill, Whare Flat and Swampy Summit.
At 9.50am, police were told the son-in-law had contacted his wife.
Sergeant Richard Panting said the men got "disorientated at dusk" and made the right decision to "stay still and hunker down" for the night.
A caretaker of the land found them walking out, she said.
Sgt Panting said an ambulance was sent and one of the men was treated for hypothermia.
St John spokesman Gerard Campbell said a "potentially hypothermic" patient in a moderate condition was taken by ambulance to the Dunedin Hospital emergency department just before noon.
