As publishedSep 1 - Jan 1, 2027 (combined "Mountain Grouse" season/bag with ruffed and dusky grouse)
Montana's regulations call this species "Franklin's grouse" (a spruce grouse subspecies) and regulate it under the same combined "Mountain Grouse" bag limit as ruffed and blue (dusky) grouse. Exempt from the 10-day nonresident delay.
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). Spruce grouse's own signal within the Outlook comes from voluntary harvested-wing submissions (age/productivity) for mountain grouse, not a standalone survey.