Mr Bowman, 57, had managed to survive for nine days in the wilderness with minimal food and no way of contacting anyone.
The Mount Waverley man, an experienced bushwalker, failed to return from his camping expedition on Saturday, triggering a rescue operation involving Tasmanian police, local SES volunteers and a rescue helicopter.
On Monday, the helicopter was grounded due to strong winds.
However, the search continued the next day and Mr Bowman was spotted by the chopper on Tuesday afternoon.
Mr Bowman pictured with rescue crews on Tuesday afternoon.Credit:Tasmania Police
Early last week, he had gotten into trouble when he put down his pack and could not find it again.
With no navigational equipment and his emergency beacon lost with his pack, he set up camp to wait it out, not expecting the weather would take a turn for the worse.
Blizzard-like conditions descended late in the week and Mr Bowman woke up with his tent collapsing under the weight of the snow.
"You clear it up and five minute later it's back where it was. it just got worse and worse and worse. And then come Sunday night I couldn't get out of the sides of the tent - it had just collapsed, the snow was on top," he said.
It was during the last two days he started to really worry, as the snow had turned to rain and he was starting to get wet. The risk of hypothermia loomed.
All the time, he knew he couldn't give up. "I just said I'm never going to give up. If I die in the tent I die in the tent, at least they'll find the body. You hear about people not being found again."
When he saw the helicopter on Tuesday morning turn round and fly away, he thought he had lost his only chance of rescue.
"I don't think I would have lasted too much more than another night because I was starting to get wet. The snow was starting to melt around the bottom of the tent."
But fortunately the helicopter flew back around a few hours later. Mr Bowman frantically waved some garbage bags in the air and jumped up and down and was spotted.
"I though 'this is the happiest day of my life'," he said.
Mr Bowman thanked everyone who had been involved in the rescue effort. "The actual physical hardship they put themselves through, it's just unbelievable."
But he said the experience had not deterred him from hiking. "I'll keep walking, I've just got to get my gear back."
Yan is a reporter for The Age.
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