Washington · UplandRuffed grouse

Ruffed grouse shares the same combined 'Forest Grouse' harvest reporting and season structure as dusky, sooty, and spruce grouse, but is elevation-defined rather than east/west-defined: WDFW's own forest-grouse hunting page places ruffed grouse in the foothills and lowlands of Western Washington and forested areas east of the Cascades, below 2,000 feet, lower and geographically broader than dusky, sooty, and spruce grouse's higher-elevation, more east/west-segregated ranges. Preferred cover differs by side of the state (alder bottoms and clearcuts in Western Washington, aspen draws in Eastern Washington), and WDFW states at least one of the four forest grouse species occurs in 34 of Washington's 39 counties, with ruffed grouse the most broadly distributed of the four given its lower elevation tolerance and use of both regenerating clearcuts and riparian hardwood draws. Combined 'Forest Grouse' harvest data (all four species together, since WDFW's own reporting does not speciate) is highest in Okanogan, Lewis, Clallam, Stevens, and Grays Harbor Counties, spanning both sides of the state, consistent with ruffed grouse's broader lowland-to-mid-elevation footprint rather than the narrower ranges of the other three species.