A couple of tips from my experiences with those mountain deer-
Don't get hung up on riparian areas. The deer might be using a dense creek bottom where you'd assume a whitetail might be, or they might be using an open ridgeline 3000 feet above the valley floor in a foot of crusty snow. You can't get fixated on a specific type of terrain, they can be almost anywhere. Keep moving until you find them.
Make yourself rattle. I get a response to rattling maybe one in every ten times I try, but that one time more than makes up for the nine blown attempts. Every time I stop to glass or get a drink or whatever, I make myself take five minutes to rattle.
Mountain whitetail can be really frustrating at times, but it gets addictive, good luck.