Hello,
I went on an Authors Visit to Guthrie School in King County TX and while there I met three 9 year old boys who want to learn to trap. I am teaching them about Raccoon trapping right now and I set them a long letter about it and told them about DP traps and how well they worked for me. What type would y'all recommend they get? I found a dozen Alcatraz DP's on sale for $75.00 on PCS Outdoors and I was wondering if that would be a good brand to get for them. How have Alcatraz DP's worked for you guys?
Thank y'all,

AuthorTrapper.

Never had issues with coons getting out of them. Problem that some of them had was that some of the bolts on the sides were so tight that it actually caused the walls to cave in slightly which caused the door to hold open. You can loosen the bolts a bit and that will correct the issue. One thing I really liked about them was it seemed near impossible for grinners to get caught.

What are grinners?

Grinners are opossums.

Too many catches that were not there when I got there for me. I did not have good results with them.

x2 Heavy pieces of junk IMO. I was happy to get rid of them!

Oh, ha ha! I always figured they were coons, LOL!

What kind of DP would you recommend they start with? They are only 9 years old so they don't have a lot of money!

Used are as good as new in most all the modern tube type DP traps, Duke, Z-traps, No BS, and numerous others are good. Stick to the basic trap, the more complicated, the more things can go wrong with them. As far as cheapest ones NEW that work great, I think the No BS line are lowest cost and they include the stakes.

Well, which ones worked well for you?

For 9-year olds, any DP is going to be tough to set. But, one has to consider the size and strength of the coon they’re after. We have big coon in Minnesota. The Alcatraz just didn’t hold them for me and I sold mine. But coon in Texas are smaller and the Alcatraz should be plenty strong to hold them

The Alcatraz did not hold North Carolina coon very well.

I've only used Duke DPs so I cannot rate any other brands.

Normally the reason for the pull outs are because they where baited wrong. I have held some huge coon in them.
If you fill them up with cat food yes, your going to have some misses. I use a paste bait and just a finger full ON THE BACK DOOR.
When it on the back door the coon is trying to get around the trigger to get the bait. So he is in deep when the trap fires.
Yes they are heavy. I would say there the easiest to set coon trap on the market.
They are not for everyone but I have trappers that wouldn't use anything else.

very possibly, so Anthony, PM me your address again, and I'll send you 3 setters off my website, for free, for all 3 boys.

Personally, I'd suggest the Duke pull only...they are 25% easier to set than a Z-trap and I've never had 1 pull out of a Duke.

Thanks for explanation Glen.