LAS VEGAS - A promoter who offered to take men on "Hunting for Bambi" safaris in which they could hunt down naked young women with paintball guns admitted that it was a hoax designed to sell videos, the mayor says.

Michael Burdick found himself in the crosshairs of women's groups after he told a Las Vegas TV station that he was selling reservations to men willing to pay $5,000 to $10,000 for the safari experience.

Las Vegas officials investigated and found that the purported safaris were nothing but a hoax to promote the "Hunting for Bambi" videos that Burdick sells. The videos show nude women being hunted by men.

The footage in the videos "was all staged," Mayor Oscar Goodman said
Thursday. "There were actors and actresses and there wasn't even the real shooting of paint balls."

Burdick did not immediately respond Friday to messages from The Associated Press, but he had previously insisted that the hunts were real.

John Redlein, an assistant city attorney, said Burdick offered the hunts at high prices to discourage bookings, and told investigators his Internet site could not even accept credit card charges in the amount necessary to reserve a hunt.

"He's told us in great detail ... that it's a scam to sell videotapes,"
Redlein said.

A report on Burdick's "Hunting for Bambi" first aired July 10 on KLAS.
Burdick staged a paintball hunt for the station's camera crew, city
officials said.