Ask 10 keepers which strain of pheasant flies best and holds tightest and you may get 10 different answers, each delivered with total conviction. Why pheasant strain reputations are so hard to proveGeorge Davis, chairman of the Game Farmers’ Association and a breeder himself, has spent a working life watching those reputations meet reality. “Some strains have picked up reputations, and there is truth in a good deal of it,” he says. At a glance Strain by strain Eight strains, and the reputations each one carries The traits below are the reputations each strain carries, not cast-iron guarantees. Almost all are subspecies or crosses of the common pheasant, and the same variety is often sold under different names.