This state's classification carries no date range for the species.
Species occurs in Maine's northern boreal forest but is explicitly and structurally closed to hunting statewide, grouped with lynx and cottontail rabbit in the "No Open Season for Hunting" line of the official table.
Spruce grouse is structurally closed to hunting statewide in Maine, and MDIFW's own 2015 Wildlife Action Plan SGCN report rates the species a Priority 3 Species of Greatest Conservation Need specifically because population size, distribution, and status data are lacking, with insufficient data to conclusively assess distribution and status, and no species-specific conservation actions currently assigned. This is a real, if data-poor, range answer rather than a gap: the species is a boreal-forest habitat specialist (Acadian spruce-fir and boreal jack pine-black spruce forest types per MDIFW's own habitat classification), and that habitat type in Maine is concentrated in the northern and western mountain regions, corroborated by independent birding-reference sourcing naming the Rangeley area, Baxter State Park, the Moosehead Lake region, and parts of Downeast Maine (Washington County) as the state's best-known spruce grouse locations. MDIFW's own SGCN report is explicit that no dedicated survey or monitoring program exists for this species.
No formal population survey program exists for this species in this state.
Join the waitlist and tell us what you’re working on — the planner reads it first once your access opens.
Free, invite-gated, unsubscribe anytime. See what it returns