As others have said welcome to Samber stalking!!
I went on a dozen hunts and had encounters just like you described, saw heaps and spooked them, then my fortune changed and then had a 5 hunt streak of success!
Keep at it, getting close and seeing them is a very good sign, It means you are in the right place and youre stalking skills are up to scratch, it is your spotting skills that need working on
You have mentioned that you hunt farm fringe and the area gets spotlighted, this means the animals will be well aware what a human is and be warier than the average deer.
I look for colour and straight lines, nothing gives away a deer quicker than the straight of its back amongst trees.
Also practice unfocussing your eyes a little so that you are looking between the trees and not at them, we naturally want to look at something so you tend to look at trees, rocks, bushes etc which is no good because thats not what you are looking for, think of the proverb "forest through the trees".
One final tip - take regular breaks to sit and wait, not only do you see and hear things but you get a break from concentrating hard, so many times I have got careless and deer have popped and I wasnt ready. And when you start moving after being still for a while do it slowly and stop after a few steps to look around, I have lost count at the number of deer that have taken off when I started moving again, when a deer is aware of your presence but not your location it will FREEZE like a statue, taking a couple steps can open an angle and then you become visibile to eachother.
Good luck mate.