Washington · UplandSpruce grouse

Spruce grouse shares the combined 'Forest Grouse' harvest reporting and season structure with dusky, sooty, and ruffed grouse, but is the narrowest and highest-elevation of the four. WDFW's own forest-grouse hunting page places it at even higher elevations than the blue grouse, in lodgepole pine, subalpine fir, and Engelmann spruce stands of the Cascades, Olympics, and mountains of northeastern Washington. Independent, more specific sourcing sharpens this to a clear northeastern-Washington core: the species is described as primarily found on the east slope of the Cascades from the Canadian border south to Yakima County and in Okanogan, Ferry, Stevens, and Pend Oreille counties, with most sightings concentrated in the Selkirk Mountains of the far northeastern corner (Ferry, Stevens, Pend Oreille counties); Washington's total population is estimated at roughly 5,000 birds, and the species has declined in parts of northern Washington due to 1994-2014 wildfires. Combined 'Forest Grouse' county harvest (not separately speciated) is consistent with this core: Stevens (1,434), Ferry (1,326), and Okanogan (4,140) counties are all in the state's top tier, though that combined figure necessarily also includes dusky, sooty, and ruffed grouse harvested in the same counties.