People think Easter egg hunts are as gentle as springtime, held in the soft grass and presided over by peaceful bunnies.

Not exactly, say some who've found that aggressive participants have made a number of local events quite hare-raising.

"The people charged like wild animals," Karen Casteel of Carrollton said of one of the egg hunts she attended some years ago at The Dallas Arboretum with her daughter. "She's crying and a lot of little kids are crying. The parents are hoarding the eggs. I'm telling you it was crazy."

It's also pretty common, say a lot of parents and event planners.

"Everyone faces the same things, no matter what you do to curtail it," said Leigh Morgan, recreation and special event manager for the city of Bedford. "You just throw your hands up at some point." The city held its annual egg hunt at the Bedford Boys Ranch Pavilion this past weekend.

According to lore, Easter egg hunts likely began thousands of years ago, honoring the coming of spring. For most Americans, the hunts have long been a rite of childhood. And it's at public Easter egg hunts where the gathering can get cutthroat.

"I'm the father of three daughters and, believe me, it really can be a competitive thing out there," said Carl Hobert, who teaches at the Center for the Advancement of Ethics and Character Development at Boston University. "It blows my mind. The parent is able to say – often it is subconscious – that getting as many eggs as possible shows superiority."

Planners say they add new rules every year to try and keep the fields from becoming big mosh pits. They separate out the toddlers from the bigger children. They ask parents to stay off the field. They restrict the number of participants. They order thousands of extra eggs. They post caution tape to keep nonparticipants off the field. They hold the hunts for older children in different areas than the hunts for the babies and toddlers.

But apparently they still can't always keep the bad eggs off the field.

"We try desperately to not have parents on the field with children. For us, it creates a dangerous situation. Kids get knocked over. Kids whose parents obey the rules have a chance of getting run over," said Morgan.

She added that the biggest prize offered by Bedford is an Easter basket, and there are 10,000 eggs for about 500 participants. "But you'd think there was gold out there. We're at a loss," she said.

In-your-face egg gathering is not a new phenomenon. The Arboretum had a meltdown back in the late '90s, when thousands of candy-hungry children showed up and some older kids began gathering eggs before their event officially started.

"Lo and behold, those who are more aggressive don't wait for the whistle," said president Mary Brinegar.

Now, the gardens host two "members only" breakfasts and egg hunts that are restricted to 400 people each. "It's very civilized here now. I think you have to learn from experience," Brinegar said.

Lone Star Park saw some of the worst of it a couple of Easters ago. Workers say the day started off badly. The weather was sweltering and too many people showed up. They came hours early, too, lining up because the park was offering Six Flags tickets and an iPod as grand prizes. By the time the hunt began, everyone was on edge. No one could hear the employee outlining instructions though a bullhorn.

When the hunt started, adults rushed onto the field, filling their children's baskets to the brim in hopes of getting some of the grand prizes. They scoured the field, leaving nothing behind on the field for those in the back to gather. Kids were left in their wake, and many children were crying because they got no eggs. Employees say they even got reports of adults circling eggs and not allowing children to get close to them.

It wasn't the park's only bad experience. Another year, older kids overran the horse race staff when they put eggs down before the hunt. Workers had to go to the store to buy more. And then there was the year when Beanie Babies were the prize. Even the Easter bunny had to help with crowd control that time.

So, this year Lone Star Park is offering a special day of Easter activities on Sunday instead.

"Life is too short," said Lone Star vice president and assistant general manager G.W. Hail. "We learned our lesson. We did it three or four times, but something went wrong each time. We're in the entertainment business, but not in the Easter egg business. We'll let someone else fall on their sword."

Lone Star Park will still offer free passes to Six Flags Over Texas to the first 500 children under 12. And each child will get an Easter egg with a prize inside. But those will be handed out at the gate.

"But we'll do it in an orderly fashion. We'll ensure there is no mad dash," Hail said.

That would suit Casteel, the Carrollton mother who has stayed away from the frenzy lately.

"I have a 4-year-old boy, and I have never taken him to an Easter egg hunt due to our experiences with our daughter," she said.