Spruce grouse is often maligned around here as being “bad” tasting. It does not taste like ruffed grouse but is not gamey in any way. It has undercurrents of juniper berry in it (makes sense with the diet) and is more like a cross between chicken and duck in flavour.Click to see full answer. Then, are spruce grouse good eating?While grouse are generally considered good-eating birds, the spruce grouse’s popularity suffers from a reputation of being a poor bird to eat. They are excellent to eat, because they eat insects, herbs and berries, and have not gone through a winter where they eat only needles.Beside above, does ruffed grouse taste good? Tastes like deer meat. But Ruffed Grouse is the only wild bird I’ve every eaten that did, in fact, taste a lot like chicken. Only drier. If you want to cook wild bird meat and have it turn our moist, tender, and juicy, try brining it. Subsequently, question is, what does grouse taste like? Grouse have pretty much the same proportion of white / dark meat as chickens do, but they don’t taste like chicken. The breast of young grouse is tender, with a mild gamey taste. The legs and the rest of the bird have a more pronounced gamey flavour.What is the difference between a ruffed grouse and a spruce grouse?Male spruce grouse are very distinctive (mostly black with white markings and a red comb over each eye), but female spruce grouse are similar in color to ruffed grouse. Although ruffed grouse occur in upland hardwoods statewide, during the fall and winter ruffed grouse may be found in spruce grouse habitat.