A hunter lost in the remote West Australian Outback for a week ate ants to survive, police revealed on Tuesday.

Reginald Foggerdy, 62, set out on a hunting trip last week from a desert campsite near Laverton, 1,000 kilometres north-east of Perth, and his family raised the alarm when he failed to return the next day.

Reginald Foggerdy: rescued after 7 days in the desert

Police sent out trackers and launched an air search on Thursday and found tracks on the weekend.

Police followed the tracks until they found Foggerdy leaning against a tree in extremely poor condition.

Superintendent Andy Greatwood told newsmen that Foggerdy was found 15 kilometres from his camp site.

“He was extremely dehydrated, a bit delusional, but he’s received treatment, first aid, on the ground and it’s fair to say he’s now sitting up and talking, so it’s looking very positive.

Reginald Foggerdy

“His last couple of days of survival were achieved by lying down under a tree and eating black ants, so that’s the level of survival that Mr Foggerdy has gone to, he had no water whatsoever for six days,” Greatwood said.

Commending Foggerdy’s bush survival skills, Greatwood said he only had shorts and a T-shirt, a cap and thongs with him.

“He didn’t have any equipment, it was just the circumstances of how he had gone out, taking off after a camel and then became disorientated and lost.

“Obviously it will emerge how he did that and how he achieved that.

‘’but it’s fair to say it’s been extremely hot, extremely remote and most people would not have survived, so he’s done a fantastic job,” he said.

The Royal Flying Doctor Service flew Foggerdy to hospital in the gold mining town of Kalgoorlie