Are these deer in lockdown mode?

[Splaker]

I just looked at a series of interesting overnight pics from my game cam. At midnight a doe appears streaking across the screen, then a buck appears just a min later..but doesn't stay long (not sure if he even ate anything or just sniffed the ground). For the next 5.5 hours I got several alternating pics of the same buck and the same doe appearing solo, never together and only briefly munching on my carrots. I am thinking they must be in lockdown very nearby. I've read that they will mate and bed and eat in the same location for up to 48 hours when in lockdown.. This might explain why I am seeing them appear every 30 to 60 minutes but only for a couple of minutes at a time, then they disappear. Again always solo at the bait pile. Just curious as I've never seen this behaviour. Usually, when a deer arrives at my bait pile they stay for 15 to 30 minutes, even longer sometimes.

Thoughts?

[Gilroy]

Sounds like the "chasing mode" to me part of the second rut.

[Splaker]

Do you think first rut is over?

[Bo D]

I believe it’s called the tending mode….

[Sam Menard]

One if the characteristics of “lockdown mode” is fewer deer sightings. Once a doe becomes receptive to breeding, the tending buck will often move the doe off somewhere where they won’t be pestered by other bucks.

It’s not uncommon to see several bucks pursue a doe as she approaches receptiveness.