The 50-year-old Queenstown man was initially trapped when his quad rolled on him while he was shooting on Waitiri Station, at Gibbston, near Queenstown, about 9pm on Saturday.
Police said he managed to free himself and, unable to walk due to his injuries, began crawling back to his truck.
He was eventually saved by station manager Dave Aitken at 9am yesterday - some 12 hours after the accident.
Mr Aitken had set out to search for the shooter after receiving a call from the man's concerned wife.
''It's just one of those unfortunate things and he's lucky. I'll let him tell you the story but he's in hospital at the moment,'' Mr Aitken said.
The injured man, who lives at Lake Hayes, was taken by helicopter to Invercargill Hospital for assessment and treatment. A Kew hospital spokeswoman said, when contacted, the man was in a ''stable condition'' in the surgical ward last night.
Sergeant Steve Watt said: ''He frequently goes out to the station to shoot rabbits, every couple of nights, which he skins and sells. He attempted a turn and it's caused the bike to become off balance because he was on a bit of a slope.''
The bike rolled on him but he was able to get himself free.
''He wasn't able to walk so he started crawling towards his truck which was some distance away. He managed to crawl 750m through the night,'' he said.
