A man has died in a fire at a remote hunting hut in the south of the South Island.

Emergency services were called to Papatotara near Tuatapere just before 2am this morning.

The alarm was raised when the wife of another man who'd been staying in the hut got a text from him in Bluff.

Fire Service shift manager Andrew Norris said it took some time to reach the hut as they had to travel through back country roads in four wheel drives.

He says two men had been staying in the hut, and only one "managed to escape the fire, and it would appear that the other person has died as a result of the fire."

Norris said the cause of the fire isn't yet clear but investigators will be there just after 6am.