Bizarre Game Targets Women: Hunting for "Bambi"

"Hunting for Bambi" is the newest form of adult entertainment in Las Vegas. Men are paying thousands of dollars to come here and hunt naked women. Could playing out this type of violence lead to even more serious types of violence against women? Channel Eight Eyewitness News reporter LuAnne Sorrell takes a look.

(July 10) -- It's a new form of adult entertainment, and men are paying thousands of dollars to shoot naked women with paint ball guns. They're coming to Las Vegas to do it. This bizarre new sport has captured the attention of people around the world, but Channel 8 Eyewitness News reporter LuAnne Sorrell is the only person who has interviewed the game's founder.

George Evanthes has never been hunting. "Originally I'm from New York. What am I going to hunt? Squirrels? Someone's cats? Someone's dogs? I don't think so," said Evanthes. Now that he's living in Las Vegas, he's finally getting his chance to put on his camouflage, grab a rifle and pull the trigger. But what's in his scope may surprise you. He's not hunting ducks or deer, he's hunting naked woman.

"I've done this three times," says Nicole, one of the three women allowing themselves to be shot at. Two other women, Gidget and Skyler, claim they have done this seven times.

Hunting for Bambi is the brainchild of Michael Burdick. Men pay anywhere from $5000 to $10,000 for the chance to come to the middle of the desert to shoot what they call "Bambis" with a paint ball gun. Burdick says men have come from as far away as Germany. The men get a video tape of their hunt to take home and show their friends.

Burdick says safety is a concern, but the women are not allowed to wear protective gear -- only tennis shoes.

Burdick says hunters are told not to shoot the women above the chest, but he admits not all hunters follow the rules. "The main goal is to be as true to nature as possible. I don't go deer hunting and see a deer with a football helmet on so I don't want to see one on my girl either," said Burdick.

The paint balls that come out of the guns travel at about 200 miles-per-hour. Getting hit with one stings with clothes on, and when they hit bare flesh, they are powerful enough to draw blood.

Evanthes shot one of the women and says, "I got the one with the biggest rack."

Gidget is the one who took the paint ball shot to the rear. She says, "It hurt. It really hurt. I didn't think it was going to be that bad." When asked if she cried she says,"yeah, a little bit."

So why do women agree to strip down and run around the desert dodging paint balls? Nicole says it's good money. "I mean it's $2,500 if you don't get hit. You try desperately not to and it's $1000 if you do," said Nicole.

The men and women say this is all good, clean fun, but in Part 2 of this special report, reporter LuAnne Sorrell speaks with a psychologist who says for some men playing out this sexual aggression may lead to other more violent acts against women.

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quote:

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Op donderdag 17 juli 2003 18:42 schreef Yi-Long het volgende:
Is hoogst waarschijnlijk gewoon een 'joke' van wat mensen.
Volgens http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/outrage/bambi.asp

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(July 16) -- Channel 8's exclusive story about the adult paint ball business, "Hunting for Bambi" has created an uproar across the country. The story about men hunting down women with paint ball guns is now one of the most searched-for-articles on the world wide web. Today it was the topic of discussion on several national news programs. While many people are interested, most are outraged. Others say the whole thing is a hoax, and that the hunt is a publicity stunt. Eyewitness News reporter LuAnne Sorrell, who broke the story, went looking for proof.

"I've been up for three days," says "Hunting for Bambi" founder Michael Burdick. The media can't get enough of "Hunting for Bambi." Stations from across the country, and as far away as Germany, have been calling Burdick for interviews.

Wednesday, Eyewitness News caught up with him between his satellite interviews on "The O'Reilly Factor" and MSNBC, and Burdick says, "Tomorrow night is Diane Sawyer. I'm getting tons of e-mails from women wanting to be Bambis."

But not all of the e-mails have been positive. At Channel 8 we've received more than 600,000 hits on our website on Monday alone. E-mails are coming in from outraged women's groups and furious paint ball players.

Many people are questioning whether this absurd new sport is real. THE SNOPES.COM WEBSITE IS ONE OF SEVERAL WHICH CALL THE WHOLE THING A BIG HOAX. Eyewitness News reporter LuAnne Sorrell went back to the scene, and asked Burdick directly if he had staged the hunt for the cameras, to which Burdick replied, "No. I'll tell you I wish I was that clever."

He admits that five weeks ago he kicked off his website only to sell his videos, but, he says, in only days men were calling and e-mailing, saying "I want to be in a video, I want to hunt one of the girls, that would be awesome. I'll pay lots of money." He continued, "The hunt you went on was exactly the 18th hunt. We have done 20 hunts since you, and we've booked one for Friday and Saturday."

To verify Burdick's comments, we contacted the company that hosts the HuntingForBambi website. That California company asked us not to use their name, but confirmed that they had actually processed orders for several so-called "hunts" in the past and they continue to get new orders in.

But a lot of people are outraged that hunting naked women is being allowed to take place in Las Vegas. Eyewitness News has learned that the city has received so many calls that they now have launched an investigation.

Jim DiFiori is the Business Service Manager for the City of Las Vegas. His office is in charge of issuing business licenses. DiFiori told Eyewitness News, "We're doing an investigation on the issues and we hope to complete this investigation in a very short period of time."

In response to the investigation Burdick said, "I am absolutely positive they are not going to find anything, because there is nothing to hide. I'll open our door at anytime to anybody." Prostitution is not part of his business, Burdick says, and claims his business is 100% legitimate, but we decided to do some digging of our own to see just how squeaky clean his business is.

Real Men Outdoor Productions, which is the company name listed on the "Hunting For Bambi" website, is incorporated in the state of Nevada. We also found a valid business license under that name that was issued last month by the City of Las Vegas, but the hunt Eyewitness News went on last week was outside of the city limits, and the license that was issued was for sell hunting videos over the Internet, not for hunting women with paint ball guns.

"Any type of nude operation needs to be considered for zoning purposes as a sexually-oriented business," said DiFiori. A special license is needed for that. Additional licenses may also be need for an escort service and a paint ball business. Burdick says he sells video tapes of all of his hunts to the hunters, so the business license he has, is the only one he needs.

The city's investigation is expected to be completed by the end of this week.

Note: A lot of the complaints Eyewitness News and Burdick received were from paint ball players who were upset that the women being hunted do not wear protective gear. Burdick says he's decided to make one concession. The women being hunted will now wear protective eyewear.

http://www.klas-tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1363796