To the woods: Washington’s forest grouse season opens Sunday

The season of long walks with a shotgun is upon us.

Washington’s forest grouse hunting season begins Sunday, drawing hunters into the woods with dreams of wingbeats.

Some hunters view their September quests for grouse as something like a tuneup game – a chance to sharpen shooting skills and dog work before quail, chukar and pheasant seasons open next month.

But chasing grouse can lead to the most exciting hunting of the year. There’s nothing like flushing a dusky grouse on a ridge or chasing a group of ruffed grouse through thick timber. There also might be no better table fare.

This is the fourth year since Washington moved the start of the grouse season to Sept. 15 from Sept. 1 to ease hunting’s impact on brood hens and young-of-the-year birds.

With the Sept. 1 opening, officials found that early-season harvest consisted mostly of brood hens and young of the year, which was bad news for population trends. Delaying the opener gives the birds more time to disperse and spread out, and it gives productive females a better chance to survive.

Annemarie Prince, a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist based in Chewelah, said the delay has seemed to work so far, and that hunters have gotten used to waiting an extra 14 days.

They’re still finding plenty of success. WDFW’s harvest data shows that hunters took home more than 43,000 grouse statewide – an increase of about 14,000 over the year before.

Much of the grouse hunting in Eastern Washington takes place in Ferry, Stevens and Pend Oreille counties, where hunters can find ruffed, spruce and dusky grouse. WDFW’s annual hunting prospects report said grouse harvest in those counties was on the decline from 2014 to 2022 in the area but rose last year. Stevens County produced the most grouse of the three counties in 2023, with hunters taking home more than 3,200 birds.

A wet spring and early summer in the region may have harmed chick survival, but WDFW is predicting that grouse harvest in the area will be close to average.

In Lincoln, Spokane and Whitman counties, WDFW reports low but stable numbers of dusky and ruffed grouse. Spring was warmer and dryer in those counties, which could improve hatching success, but the continuation of that pattern into the summer may have meant limited forage for the birds.

In southeastern Washington – Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield and Asotin counties – grouse harvest has been on the drop since 2009. WDFW’s hunting prospects say tough winters in years past likely took a toll on the birds, but that hunter effort data indicates the populations have been stable.

WDFW is again placing barrels around the state to collect the wings and tails of grouse taken by hunters. The data helps the agency learn about the populations and about what birds are being taken by hunters.

A webpage gives hunters instructions on how to submit the wing or tail and what information to include with it. There’s also a digital map showing the locations of the barrels, and whether they’re available. Wings and tails can also be submitted at WDFW’s regional offices.