It took a little while of reading for me to figure out the $15 tag situation too, we'll see if I can explain it good enough to understand.....
Each deer zone has a set amount of deer you can take, i.e. 1, 2, or 3 of which only one may be antlered. The $15 tags will allow you to take another 1, 2, or 3 deer depending upon the zone you are in, but they must be antlerless (which in Ohio means to have 3" or shorter antlers if it's a male). They may only be used before the general firearms season, which means that you can only use them if you use archery equipment. If you don't fill your tag before gun season, you can still use them after as long as you are participating in a special hunt put on by the ODNR, or are hunting in an Urban deer zone (maps of which are shown in the laws).
In order to use these $15 tags, you have to first buy a $24 either sex tag, however once you buy the tags, you can use them in any order you see fit.
The other thing with the zones is that even though you are limited to 1, 2, or 3 deer in your zone, you may travel to another zone and hunt to fill your tags up to the 3 total limit, as long as the zone you are going to hunt in has a total limit of more than the zone you were hunting in originally (i.e., if you shot a deer in the 1 deer zone, you can go and get another in a 2 deer zone, or get 2 more in a 3 deer zone).
I better quit while I'm ahead, but if you have any questions, I'll try and answer them the best I can.
~Amos
P.S. I forgot that the thread was about the early muzzleloader season....you aren't allowed to use the $15 tags with any kind of firearm(pistol, shotgun, muzzleloader)...them's the rules, just wanted to re-emphasize that so that no one got the wrong idea.
