Deb Robb noticed a broken window in her daughter's room last week and initially thought "that's weird" but on closer inspection thought it looked like it had been made by a bullet.
She contacted police and later found a bullet in the bedroom, which police confirmed had come from a .22 rifle.
Ms Robb said it was probably fired sometime on January 2, possibly while her daughter was asleep.
A week later, she is speaking out in an effort to persuade hunters to take care when shooting.
"To start with I thought I wouldn't say anything but then, the more I thought about it, I thought I couldn't face it if someone was hurt from me not saying something."
Their house is on Springvale Rd, near Clyde, and borders the Alexandra Airport.
Ms Robb said she assumed the bullet had come from someone shooting rabbits on the airport reserve. Looking back through the hole in the glass, the airport reserve can be seen through the trees that surround the Robbs' property.
Central Otago District Council property and facilities manager Mike Kerr said recreational shooting was not permitted anywhere on the 80ha council-managed airport reserve.
"We know that people in the past probably did [shoot rabbits] there when the airport was undeveloped land with only two or three hangars.
"But we've slowly been trying to inform the public as the airport develops, to get the message out that no shooting is allowed.
Central Otago sub-area supervisor Senior Sergeant Clint Wright reminded hunters they needed to follow the "cardinal rules" when hunting, including shooting in a safe direction, identifying targets, and not shooting near residential properties.
"This kind of thing [the bullet on the Robb property] can turn into tragedy, and without intention [from the hunter]."
Ms Robb said she hoped hunters would heed the warnings.
"If it just makes a few hunters think `hang on, we might be a bit close to houses here' and everyone in the community shares this story and has a bit of a think about it, then it's good to have spoken out."
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I was confused by the story because "bullet casing" is the wrong word here. The casing is the brass container that holds the propellant, and from which the bullet, seen here, is ejected. If the casing were in the room, as written, then the bullet would likely have been fired from the room and be outside the house, which confused me until I saw the picture.
I can agree with Otago Graduate and am thankful OG explained a crucial part of the situation as now the story has been edited accordingly. If I said the police think there is good evidence to say the bullet had run out of power to do any real harm to persons or property I think they would agree with me. The fact that the bullet barely made it through the glass window at low velocity means it was fired a long way off or ricocheted.