Yes, the perpretrator of this legend has obviously never witnessed the carnage left at a set after a raccoon catch. They have never came across the "bomb site" catch circles, the mahem of everything destroyed within reach, and of course the brush and the small logs within the circle that have been reduced to nothing but shredded bits of pulp.
if PVC will barely hold up, how in the hell will they think that the recycleable grade, thin mil plastic of a milk jug will?
I heard a similar story about drilling a 1" hole into the side of a tree, then putting a piece of candy or some lure back into the hole, then driving three finishing nails into the outer edges of the hole so that the nail points angle back into the hole slightly. Same concept, a coon reaches in for the goodies and slides right in since its paw is going the direction of the nails, but then when it retracts its paw back out the nails drive into the back of the paw. It wouldn't take a coon long to work its way out of that predicament either, even with some paw damage. They are just way too strong, aggressive critters.
Yep, that's a "good one".
Jim-NE