| Window | Dates | Days |
|---|---|---|
| Season | 01 SEP 2026 – 01 JAN 2027 | 123d |
As publishedSep 1 - Jan 1, 2027 (combined "Mountain Grouse" season/bag with ruffed and spruce grouse)
Montana's regulations use the older term "blue grouse" for this species (the interior Rocky Mountain form; sooty grouse, the coastal form, does not occur in MT). Regulated under the same combined "Mountain Grouse" bag limit as ruffed and spruce grouse. Exempt from the 10-day nonresident delay.
Dusky grouse (Montana's regulations still call it 'blue grouse') is a montane-forest specialist found across montane forests of western and central Montana per the Montana Field Guide, largely absent from the treeless eastern high-plains half of the state, a habitat-driven range boundary rather than a density gradient or hunting zone. It is also the most broadly distributed of Montana's three mountain-grouse species, since it occupies drier, more open forest types that ruffed and spruce grouse avoid.
Montana FWP's 2026 Upland Game Bird Season Outlook, published August 31, found abundant adult dusky grouse spread widely across Region 2 in western Montana. Be clear on what that measures: it counts adult birds that came through the winter, not this year's hatch, so the encouraging part is how many mature birds are on the mountain. FWP's own advice for the region is to move up in elevation as the season progresses. The picture doesn't hold statewide. In Region 1, mountain grouse as a group are expected to come in below normal on poor chick production, and since Montana runs dusky, ruffed, and spruce grouse under one combined mountain grouse bag, that finding covers dusky birds there too. Region 3 hunters have less to work with, where FWP says the information is more limited.
Strong adult carryover in Region 2, set against poor chick production in Region 1.
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