Ruffed grouse

Governed by ADF&G Small Game Program's annual "Alaska Small Game Summary" (covers all 7 native grouse/ptarmigan species — ruffed, sharp-tailed, sooty, spruce grouse; rock, white-tailed, willow ptarmigan — in one hybrid document combining spring breeding-survey and summer brood-survey results with harvest expectations). Confirmed not yet published for 2026 as of a 2026-08-19 fresh check (the year-specific URL pattern small_game_status_2026_summary_report.pdf still returns 404, matching the Tier A registry's 2026-08-18 capture). No fixed calendar publish date exists, but both the 2024 and 2025 editions went live only after the early-August brood-survey fieldwork window closed, so publication is expected sometime in the coming weeks.

CDFW runs no survey or forecast program for ruffed grouse (tracked in a combined season/bag with sooty grouse in restricted counties) — confirmed absence, any year. Only static life-history accounts and season-date-reminder press releases exist, no population data.

Confirmed absence of a pre-season population survey: DEEP runs no drumming-count-route program for ruffed grouse, Connecticut's one native huntable upland species with a real wild population — only a passive public sighting-report channel and a post-season voluntary Ruffed Grouse Hunter Log (harvest/effort data, not a spring population index). Re-checked 2026-08-19 via fresh search; nothing beyond DEEP's existing fact-sheet infrastructure found.

Confirmed absence of a hunter-facing forecast: WRD's own spring drumming-count survey was tried and abandoned as ineffective; monitoring has shifted to a multi-year (2022-2027) University of Georgia (Chandler Lab) research collaboration (automated recording units, roadside drumming routes, citizen-submitted DNA samples) -- a genuine active academic monitoring effort, but not a WRD-published annual pre-season outlook with a defined publish window.

Forest grouse (ruffed, dusky, spruce) data comes from IDFG's post-season wing-barrel collection (juvenile:adult ratios), which is retrospective by design and feeds the following year's forecast narrative rather than standing alone as a pre-season 2026 report. That narrative sits inside the statewide/regional Upland Game Bird Forecast, which had not published as of 2026-08-19 (2025 edition published Sept 5, 2025); expected within the next 2-3 weeks.

Confirmed absence: despite a real, zone-restricted open season (northeast Iowa Ruffed Grouse Hunting Zone), Iowa DNR runs no dedicated ruffed grouse population/drumming survey. Re-confirmed via fresh search 2026-08-19 (targeted for NE Iowa/DNR drumming-count data specifically): no Iowa-specific results found, only neighboring-state (Minnesota, Wisconsin) survey programs that don't extend into Iowa.

KDFWR runs a real spring drumming-count survey (15-stop driving routes, April) plus a retrospective Grouse Hunter Cooperator Log, corroborated as still active by the 2017-2027 Ruffed Grouse & Young Forest Strategic Plan. A fresh check of fw.ky.gov's Grouse page and search pass (2026-08-19) found no report edition newer than 2014-15 — KDFWR's "Hunting Survey Reports" collection page itself listed no fresher edition. Same "active monitoring, no dated report" pattern as bobwhite quail in this state.

MDIFW runs a real spring drumming-count survey (since 2014) but no standalone published forecast document; results have historically surfaced only via press coverage quoting an MDIFW biologist (Kelsey Sullivan), late September through December in prior years. A fresh 2026-08-19 search pass initially surfaced what looked like a live 2026 quote from Sullivan ("I expect this year's fall grouse population to be up from last year") across several outlets — direct-fetch verification of the underlying Penobscot Bay Press article confirmed it is dated December 19, 2024, describing the 2024 season, not a fresh 2026 finding (same stale-attribution trap flagged in the prior Tier B batch's Illinois prairie-chicken close). No genuine 2026-dated piece found; season opens Sept 28, 2026, so a Sullivan quote for this year isn't expected until closer to or after that date.

MD DNR runs a real, currently-maintained annual volunteer Hunter Cooperator Survey (hunters report county and flush counts via a downloadable log) — confirmed active via a fresh 2026-08-19 direct fetch of DNR's grouse management page ("You can help us manage this great game bird by participating in our annual volunteer cooperator survey"), though no discrete published report with a confirmed 2026 date was found. The separate spring roadside drumming-count survey (since 1964) has an unconfirmed current status — the last confirmed edition via a secondary/archived citation was 2016; this pass could not confirm whether it's still run. Closed as not_yet_published rather than no_program since at least one instrument (the Cooperator Survey) is confirmed live and ongoing.

MassWildlife states its upland-bird assessment "incorporates ruffed grouse monitoring and harvest information," including a voluntary Game Bird Hunting Log — confirming a real program exists — but no dedicated spring drumming-count survey or standalone published forecast document has been confirmed. mass.gov returned HTTP 403 to every direct fetch attempt again this pass (ruffed-grouse-hunting-regulations page), and no Wayback Machine workaround is available in this session's tools, so this closure leans on WebSearch snippets and the Tier A registry's own prior findings rather than a fresh primary-source read — flagged as the least independently verified combo in this batch, consistent with the registry's own note calling out Massachusetts on exactly this point. (A third-party aggregator, Ultimate Upland, rates MA ruffed grouse "FAIR" this pass, but per the precedent set for Colorado in an earlier Tier B batch, that site's ratings aren't tied to a specific MassWildlife-published count and were not used as a governing source here.)

MI DNR (Adam Bump, Upland Game Bird Specialist) runs an active spring drumming-count survey (statewide + priority areas, since 2021), but results surface only via press coverage rather than a dedicated MI DNR-published document with a confirmed date; no 2026 edition confirmed as of 2026-08-19. A widely-repeated “6% statewide decline” figure found in press aggregation could not be confirmed as Michigan's own (risk of conflation with a neighboring state's release covered in the same article) and was not cited. A fresh search this pass found only a qualitative “cautiously optimistic” characterization attributed to Bump, with no dated numeric report to close on.

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.

No dedicated standalone survey or forecast confirmed for ruffed grouse in Nevada (found primarily in the state's northeast) across two independent search passes; same lower-confidence bucket as California/Gambel's/mountain quail and ring-necked pheasant above -- possible narrative coverage within the unconfirmed historical combined forecast, but no explicit NDOW confirmed-absence statement exists either.

Governing source is the same NH Small Game Summary Report as woodcock (spring drumming-count survey, 2 routes/WMU since 1999, plus post-season wing-and-tail juvenile:adult ratio). The 2025 edition (September 22, 2025) reported drumming “similar to 2024 in most regions” and a juvenile:adult-female ratio of 1.64 (down from 2.03 in 2024). Not yet published for 2026 as of this capture; expected ~late September 2026.

Governed by the citizen-science spring Drumming Survey (turkey hunters record drumming males heard afield in May) feeding the interactive NYS Ruffed Grouse Dashboard (ArcGIS Online) alongside the fall Cooperator flush-rate log -- a live, continuously-updated tool rather than a discrete annual report, so this closes not_yet_published on the “active monitoring, no dated report” basis rather than treating the dashboard's ongoing data as a publish event. The most recent complete season summary found via search is 2022 (154 hunters, 927 trips); no 2026-specific summary located. DEC's species page cites Breeding Bird Survey data showing a >75% statewide decline (-4.7%/year) since the 1960s as long-term background, not a 2026 finding.

Governing source is NCWRC's Ruffed Grouse Drumming Survey across the Nantahala and Pisgah National Forests (since 2002) -- the most consistently published annual grouse survey found in this six-state batch, with dedicated PDF summaries confirmed published in sequence for 2020 through 2025. A direct fetch of the species page this pass confirmed the 2025 edition remains the latest linked, with no 2026 edition yet. Expected on the same annual cadence.

Shares ODFW's Forest Grouse and Mountain Quail Parts Collection Summary ('wingbee' report) with dusky grouse, sooty grouse, and mountain quail. A fresh search this pass confirmed the same finding as the Tier A pass -- no edition newer than 2021 (published 2022) is publicly located, though the underlying wing-collection program continues annually. Active program, no dated fresher report.

PGC does not run a spring drumming-count route survey for ruffed grouse; its core monitoring instruments are a Grouse Summer Sighting Survey (forester-logged incidental sightings via the Survey123 app, ongoing since 1981) and hunter-harvested-bird serosurveillance for West Nile virus antibodies (linked directly to the state's ongoing grouse decline in PGC's own research). Both are confirmed active, ongoing programs with no fixed annual publish window and no discrete 2026 report found this pass.

SCDNR runs no discrete annual grouse population report; monitoring is via a continuous Survey123 citizen-science reporting app (GPS-tagged sighting/hearing reports, active since March 2019) rather than a dated survey document. Active monitoring confirmed, but there is no annual index or report to publish -- classified not_yet_published on that basis rather than no_program, since a real (if informal) monitoring channel exists.

No recurring SD GFP survey for Black Hills ruffed grouse -- direct fetch of GFP's own ruffed grouse species page (2026-08-19) confirms it covers habitat and hunting regulations only, with no monitoring program described. The only quantitative population data found anywhere is a one-off USFS/GFP drumming-log survey conducted in spring 2007-2008, not a recurring or hunter-facing annual product.

Lower-confidence call: TWRA's own ruffed grouse species page (fetched directly) states only that 'population numbers appear stable,' with no survey methodology, timing, or results described. The only quantitative data found anywhere is a research-grade drumming census run 1984-1988 across 2 study units -- decades stale, not a current TWRA program. No explicit TWRA statement of program absence, but no program evidence surfaced either.

Confirmed absence, same finding as dusky grouse: UDWR's own public statements say biologists don't conduct formal grouse surveys, relying instead on incidental field observations folded into a general narrative article rather than a discrete forest-grouse report.

VFWD's real, still-emerging research effort is an AI/acoustic drumming-count program (audio recorders at WMAs like Fred Johnson WMA, with a machine-learning model classifying the sound data), funded through 2026 with VFWD seeking funding to extend it through 2028. Active and confirmed ongoing as of a May 2026 press capture, but still in a testing/model-refinement phase per VFWD's own biologist -- no published annual population index or hunter-facing forecast exists yet.

VA DWR's annual Ruffed Grouse Status Summary (spring Roadside Drumming Survey + fall Hunter Cooperator Log + Hard Mast Survey) typically publishes ~August-September; the 2023-24 edition (0.72 flushes/hr, above the 5- and 10-year averages, though spring drumming dropped to 0.35 drums/route, partly attributed to staff-vacancy route gaps) remains the latest confirmed edition. A fresh WebSearch and direct-fetch attempt on 2026-08-19 (mid-publish-window) found no 2025-26 or 2026-27 edition yet -- worth a follow-up check given the typical window is live now.

WDFW's forest grouse (dusky/ruffed/sooty/spruce, combined season) coverage folds entirely into the retrospective, all-species Game Status and Trend Report (2025 edition published Feb 25, 2026); no standalone forest-grouse-specific pre-season forecast was found, per WDFW's own forest-grouse hunting page, which links only to that general report.

WVDNR's flagship combined "Hunting Outlook and Mast Survey" (deer/bear/turkey/boar/squirrel/ruffed grouse together, incorporating the state's own Ruffed Grouse Hunter Cooperator Survey flush-rate data) publishes annually in late September (2025 edition Sept 23, 2025; 2025-26 cooperator data cited hunters should see harvests "similar" to 2024). A fresh WebSearch on 2026-08-19 confirmed no 2026 edition has published yet -- consistent with the registry's expected ~late-September window, about five weeks out from this capture.

Higher confidence: per WGFD's own Wyoming Wildlife magazine feature ("Looking Sharp"), lek-based survey methods used for sage-grouse and sharp-tailed grouse "wouldn't work for ruffed or dusky grouse that live in areas where survey routes are impractical and they don't display at leks" -- ruffed grouse males display and call individually rather than gathering at leks, so no equivalent monitoring instrument exists. No WGFD ruffed grouse population survey of any kind was found.