Hi Encon,
I am confused about the intent of a law.
I finally tagged a private land deer in Willington. It was an antlerless deer.

Willington is Zone 4a. Zone 4a is "special" in that there are not as many deer up this way so you are only allowed one per season. According to the Harvest Tag, "Antlerless Tags can not be used in Zone 4a during the Private Land Shotgun/Rifle and Muzzleloader seasons".

This has always been the case and has never been an issue for me. But this year I have the opportunity to also hunt private land in Mansfield and Moosup, neither of which are 4a.

According to the letter of the law,
a) I have to use my "either sex" tag for my Zone 4a antlerless deer
b) With my "either sex" tag used for my Willington antlerless deer I am left with only my "antlerless" tag
c) I am unable to shoot an antlered deer in Mansfield or Moosup

This doesn't seem right; why should shooting any deer in Zone 4a restrict me to only antlerless deer in the rest of the state? What difference does it make which box I check on the Zone 4a tag so long as a) I tag the deer and b) I report it?

It never occurred to me before, but I've never had the opportunity to hunt other zones.