GAYS MILLS, Wis. -- The Department of Natural Resources is brainstorming plans for how to deal with wild boars that are roaming the Wisconsin countryside.

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Across the Kickapoo River Valley, they had become folklore, almost like trolls, yet wide-eyed witnesses kept seeing them.

"Well you know it was kind of a head-scratcher," said DNR official Dave Matheys. "You know, it could be just Farmer Jones' pig that's just gone astray. But, as stories built up we realized there was something to it, not just a pig running around out there."

Then a couple of deer hunters came back with something a lot different than bucks and does.

That's when DNR wildlife biologists came to a quick conclusion.

"We've got some pigs out on the landscape and we've got to deal with them," said Matheys.

Wild boars weighing hundreds of pounds with big tusks were first brought to America by the Spanish. They've been reaping trouble in the south for decades.

"Some of the golf courses down south have extreme problems with these pigs coming out and wrecking the greens, and chasing or harassing golfers who are out there at early hours," reported Matheys.

Locally, farmers have seen 30-acre fields uprooted and there's great concern about disease spreading to domestic stock.

Because the boars are nocturnal animals, experts said getting a good handle on numbers is next to impossible, but wild pigs are now popping up in many areas of Wisconsin. Crawford County seems to be the epicenter of the problem.

The DNR warden said it is possible for families to come across a wild pig while hiking.

"You want to keep an eye open for them," said Matheys. "They're big animals, or can be big animals, and they are unpredictable and in certain areas they have been known to attack people."

The DNR is allowing anyone with a small game license to shoot the pigs anytime of the year, but most are not used to night hunting.

Other eradication methods are being brainstormed.