Not much I can add that others haven't already said.
As been noted, no tactic or mindset in the world can help you kill mature deer if there isn't one to kill. So whatever I say assumes you have big deer where you're hunting.
This is simply my opinion and what I have experienced on PA public the last five years so feel free to dispute whatever I say. My public is loaded with mature game so I consider myself very lucky.
Whenever I get the awesome opportunity to come across a mature animal, I think to myself how much crap that animal has had to deal with to get to the point he is. Think about how many times he's evaded a rifle scope, muzzleloader sabot. crossbow scope, bow sight, bear, coyotes, that has allowed him to become mature. He's somewhere no one is looking. Think over and over again where does no one go, and where he can hide from predators.
The best advice I ever heard and implemented was John Eberhart's " hunt security cover". It doesn't matter how hot or fresh, or abundant sign is. If there's no cover for a mature animal to hide in he will not be there in daylight. I've never seen it. If he did he'd be dead long ago.
People and articles will pound down you need to hunt funnels. Funnels are worthless without cover. You'll hear to hunt benches and saddles and ridges blah blah. All these spots need abundant cover for a buck to feel secure moving through. If you find a bench on a hillside only has big mature trees and no understudy, its a waste of time. Poor smucks year in year out hunt funnels with no cover with no success even during rut.
If you can combine a terrain feature(funnel)+ dense cover+ no human intrusion you got a great recipe for a great hunt.
I'm for the most part mobile, but the very best spot I've ever hunted in PA is a saddle 100 yards wide. It's rich with dense mountain laurel top to bottom. And it's so remote absolutely no one goes there.
I do hunt some mountain terrain but mostly gently rolling hills. If you have a lot of predators like I do, and it's somewhat flat, I find 90% or more of the biggest bucks are in and around water aka swamps. Most importantly its gets them away from predators. And for whatever reason, I find water stops most hunters in their tracks, hence why the bucks are there.