The pheasant was first introduced to the British Isles as a game bird by the Normans in the 11th century, although many now regard it as a native species. Pheasant shooting forms the backbone of game shooting in the UK. Although the origins of driven shooting hail from Europe, no other country comes close to presenting the quality of driven pheasants shown on shoots across Scotland, the North of England, the Welsh Marches and the West Country, the traditional home of high bird shooting. Many consider that the high curling pheasant presents the most challenging of all driven sporting targets.

Few shoots now rely on wild pheasants: like the Grey partridge, wild populations have not responded well to modern farming practices. A few shoots, mainly located in East Anglia, hold on to good stocks of wild 'fen pheasants' and no birds are put down within many miles of them. Wild pheasant shooting can be fantastic. They are smaller, leaner birds that are stronger and faster in flight than a reared pheasant. Wild pheasant shoots have no need of topography; having much greater stamina. The wild pheasant can achieve astonishing height off flat ground. On a windy day wild pheasants provide the very best of sport. Bags on wild shoots only very rarely exceed two hundred: days of 50 to 150 are more the norm and shoots offer only a small handful of days per season.

On a pheasant shoot, a team of beaters drives the birds over a line of six to nine guns spaced on pegs anywhere from 20 to 40 yards apart. The drives are created by making the best use of the available topography and for this reason the guns are usually situated below the beaters; a typical example would be the bottom of a valley, and the birds are driven from either woodland or cover over the guns towards cover or woodland on the opposite side of the valley. The main aim of presenting good pheasants is to show them in the highest and most testing manner possible - the birds on some British estates can be out of shot. The season runs from October 1st until February 1st, although no shooting normally takes place before the beginning of November.