DO use real tent pegs to hold the thing down. I put one up one night before deer season opener, when it was windy and blowing a light rain. The ground was pretty soft, and the wires provided by Ameristep were not enough.
Opening morning, I got to my blind location, and it was gone. The wind had blown it over the hill and into my uncle's yard fence (I was up the hill and in a large pasture from my uncle's house). I did recover the blind, unharmed, but it was a lesson learned, stake it down solidly.
I DID kill a nice big buck out of the pasture that morning, sitting in the chair that didn't get blown over the hill, but I was wide open, and the deer was preoccupied with the does he was traveling with. One shot, about three leaps downhill, and the buck was piled up.
Good suggestion on the tent stakes. I'll round up all the "real" tent stakes I have and supplement from there.
