[3blade]

Don't wear dark camo, you show up at a long distance. Flat tan or white if there's snow. And have your face covered.

Use your binos. Figure out where they are going, try to put a hill between you and them to get close

Don't stand up and walk around if there's deer within eyesight. Most mule deer hunting is done by crawling. Get leather gloves and knee pads, and a thick pair of socks instead of boots for when you are closing in.

Learn to shoot off a pack, and trigger stick. Good job staying within your limits. general season mulies have been pressured since sept, its possible to get close but not easy. You've got a year to improve your shooting.

The weather was a bugger this year. Nothing you can do about that, you gained some valuable experience

Edit: they tend to go a long ways, that's their defense mechanism - putting distance between themselves and a predator. They may come back, they may not, but not like whitetails that will be back in a couple hours.