RE: Elk and Wind?
First, I have never found a scent blocker/scent masker that worked with elk. Whatever I have used, if they were downwind of me they smelled me.
As stated, a prevailing wind is what you would want because then you can hunt into it. Usually, at first and last light, it is fairly calm and you do have to worry about " thermals" and wind swirls. What you usually read is that thermals rise in the morning and fall in the evening. It is not quite that simple. The first 30 minutes of daylight, before sunrise, the thermals are still going downhill. Shortly after sunrise, they begin to rise. Conversely, in the evening, the thermals move uphill until sundown, then they start going down. Makes it hard to hunt one direction in either the morning or the evening. I usually try and be in my starting postion before daylight or well before sundown and sidehill.
Even the pros get busted by the wind, so don' t feel bad. It is pretty fickle.