This state's classification carries no date range for the species.
No general open season for 2026-27.Limited to controlled hunts on four designated areas: Appalachian Hills Wildlife Area, Shawnee State Forest, Vinton Furnace State Forest, and Zaleski State Forest (with adjacent Waterloo Wildlife Area). Access is via lottery-style permit application; the 2026-27 application window closed July 31, 2026, with successful applicants notified the following week and given permit/rules/map. Specific in-season hunt dates for permit holders were not found in any available source. Ohio's ruffed grouse population is very low-density statewide (ODNR's 2020-21 hunter survey estimated only ~3,016 hunters and ~520 birds harvested statewide that season, historical context only).
Ohio's ruffed grouse range is confined to the heavily forested Appalachian hill country of eastern and southern Ohio, and ODNR's own species page states this directly: ruffed grouse occur in heavily forested counties of eastern and southern Ohio, favoring young forest habitat regenerating after logging, surface-mine reclamation, or farmland abandonment. Independent sourcing names the same 17-county area explicitly, Adams, Pike, Ross, Scioto, Vinton, Jackson, Lawrence, Gallia, Meigs, Athens, Washington, Morgan, Noble, Monroe, Belmont, Guernsey, and Muskingum, as the historical grouse-hunting counties, consistent with a state-led effort to maintain and regenerate oak forests specifically in this southeastern region for grouse and other young-forest species. This underlying geography did not change for 2026-27, even though the regulation notes the general open season was eliminated statewide in favor of a lottery-permit controlled hunt confined to four public land units, Appalachian Hills Wildlife Area, Shawnee State Forest, Vinton Furnace State Forest, and Zaleski State Forest/adjacent Waterloo Wildlife Area, all of which sit inside this same southeastern Appalachian hill-country range rather than representing a new location.
Ohio's ruffed grouse season stays limited to controlled hunts with site-specific lottery permits on four public land units, a change the state made because of the long-term population decline. Ohio's own Wild Turkey and Ruffed Grouse Brood Survey is active for 2026 but hasn't published dated results yet. There's no new population figure or weather driver behind this year specifically; it's a confirmation of where things already stood, not a fresh up or down move.
No new population data or weather driver reported for 2026; the standing long-term decline and controlled-hunt structure remain unchanged.
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