As publishedSep 1 - Jan 1, 2027 (combined "Mountain Grouse" season/bag with dusky and spruce grouse)
Regulated jointly with blue (dusky) grouse and Franklin's (spruce) grouse under one combined "Mountain Grouse" bag limit — the 3-bird daily bag is an aggregate across all three species, not per-species. Exempt from the standard 10-day nonresident delay; residents and nonresidents share the same Sep 1, 2026 - Jan 1, 2027 season.
Tracked via Montana FWP's combined annual Upland Game Bird Season Outlook (pheasant, sage grouse, sharp-tailed grouse, gray/Hungarian partridge, chukar, dusky grouse, spruce grouse, ruffed grouse together, by region). The 2025 edition published Aug 20, 2025; a fresh direct fetch of the stable landing page (fwp.mt.gov/hunt/seasons/forecasts) on 2026-08-19 confirms it still shows only the 2025 edition — the 2026 edition appears imminent (one day short of last year's exact publish date). Ruffed grouse's own signal within the Outlook comes from voluntary harvested-wing submissions (age/productivity) for mountain grouse, not a standalone survey.