The species is present everywhere in France, in the form of artificial, semi-natural or natural populations.
The pheasant has daytime and crepuscular habits. The pace of activity varies depending on the season, weather conditions and sexual state.
Pheasant is usually polygamous. Breeding groups with one male and 1 to 5 or 6 hens, called harems, are formed during the months of March and April and sometimes later. Roosters accompanied by hens are animals that have become dominant as a result of two-by-two fighting.
Laying in a nest on the ground (from 9 to 12 eggs) begins in the second half of March but many nests are destroyed (climatic conditions or predators) or abandoned. Only the chicken broods.
Incubation lasts 24 to 25 days. Most outbreaks occur in May and June, but may last until August in the case of spring nesting. 30-70% of nests hatch by year
It would be released annually more than 10 million pheasants according to different sources. This explains that it is collected in all departments. This also explains why the cliché «pheasant = shooting game» is still hard on hunters, and especially on the general public.