A Winnipeg man found alive after missing for three weeks is speaking out for the first time after returning home.

In a statement released Sunday Brad Lambert said he's happy to be home.

"I'm feeling fine physically, just a bit tired. I'm overjoyed to be home with family and friends [and] I'm incredibly moved by the outpouring of support from friends, family and people we don't even know," he said.

"For the searchers, I greatly appreciate their efforts. I want to thank them and I'm just happy to be home safe."

Brad Lambert was reported missing on Nov. 15 after heading on a deer hunting trip and never returning back. He was last seen at a grocery store in Marchand, Man., about 85 kilometres southeast of Winnipeg.

Lambert said he was only going hunting for the day in Sandilands Provincial Park, when things went terribly wrong. His truck got stuck then ran out of gas and the battery died.

All he had to survive were the clothes he'd been wearing and some water.

'It was a difficult ordeal. It was very cold, hungry, lonely.'—Brad Lambert

"[I] built fires until my fire materials ran out, daily, and spent evenings in my truck; and daytime searches flagging down planes that I could see, searching for trails, food," he said.

"You experience every emotion that there is from time to time. It was a difficult ordeal. It was very cold, hungry, lonely."

An RCMP team along with friends, family and members of the Marchand community searched for Lambert, but could not find him.

On Saturday, Lambert stumbled on a trail that led him out of the woods and he was picked up by a man who spotted him walking on the side of a road.

The man drove him to the same grocery store where he was last seen and Lambert was then taken to a hospital for examination.

He told CBC News he is respecting a request from the Winnipeg police to not explain everything that happened in the past three weeks while they are still investigating.