Hunters Up in Arms Over Portrayal in Game

Deer are fair game for hunters across the land, so why not turn the tables and make hunters fair game for deer?

Such is the thinking behind one of the most popular CD-ROM games on the market: “Deer Avenger” by Simon & Schuster Interactive.

But is the game fair to hunters?

Hardly, hunting groups insist. They’ve been blasting away at Simon & Schuster since the game hit the market late last fall.

“We’ve been getting bombarded with e-mails from irate hunters,” says Walter Walker, vice president in charge of sales and marketing for New York-based Simon & Schuster. “Our first notion was to make these guys a gift of a dictionary because not many of them can write.”

That kind of statement infuriates hunters, who claim they are being misrepresented “as stupid, drunken womanizers,” says Alfred Donau, president of Safari Club International.

In the game, Bambi becomes Bambo (as in Rambo) and players guide her every move, looking for signs of a hunter’s presence: empty beer cans, nudie magazines and human markings in the snow spelling “KLEM WUZ HEAR.”

Bambo has in her arsenal a series of calls, including these cries: “Help, I’m naked and I have a pizza!” and “Free beer here!” Once flushed out, deer hunters are blown away with M-16s and bazookas.

“I was appalled by the promotion of violence against hunters,” Donau said in a recent statement. “This is like violence urged against abortion advocates by ‘right-to-life’ extremists or violence against minorities urged by neo-Nazi fanatics.”

Safari Club International--with 32,000 members in 40 countries--is spearheading an effort to have “Deer Avenger” recalled.

That’s not likely, says Walker, who maintains that “Deer Avenger” is merely a parody of the popular “Deer Hunter” CD-ROM series and should not be taken so seriously.

“In fact, a sequel to ‘Deer Avenger’ is already in the works,” Walker adds.