He was found about 1km from a hut he had stayed at the night before.
He called out and was then led to a track after hearing the whistles of two search teams coming near from different directions.
''He was good as gold but really happy to see those guys,'' Metcalfe said.
The land was extremely rough, rugged, steep, wet, and thickly forested, he said.
''It's a huge area in there. It's not flat up there - far from it, it's really rugged. It was a tough exercise.''
The teams made up from police Search and Rescue (SAR), mid-north land rescue volunteers (LandSAR) and three Department of Conservation (DoC) staff went into the area at around 9am on Thursday.
Metcalfe had spent the night planning the operation.
The searchers entered the area via the Taita Road Bridle Track on the Waimamaku side of the ranges, and followed it to the Waima Main Range Track.
They knew roughly which area the teenager was in, but it took several hours to tramp in within range.
The teenager and his brother are Department of Conservation contractors who had been working trap lines for three days, staying in a hut at night.
At about 3pm on Wednesday the younger one followed the trap line instead of a track to get out of the forest, but mistakenly turned left instead of right and ended up lost.
By 4pm it was already dark in the thick forest and impossible to find the track, Metcalfe said.
When his brother walked out of the ranges to meet their father at a pre-arranged place and time, he wasn't there. They also mounted a search the next day.
Meanwhile, at about 6pm, the lost teen had found a place where he could get intermittent, faint phone reception, and called for help.
Because of the weak signal it was hard for him to be heard or understand but the message got through, Metcalfe said.
The teenager was told to stay put, which he did.
''It was good outcome, but I think that boy will be a lot wiser now,'' Metcalfe said.