I'd never advocate someone getting a cheap pair of boots, or boots that you'd not be happy with but I am not seeing "pheasant boots" as a huge deal. If a guy doesn't want leather than there are some synthetic options, but they're more limited and IME, not really needed barring some oddball medical issue.
Pheasant hunting normally involves getting out of a vehicle, walking 1-2 miles down some canal banks, fencelines, cattail patches or crop rows. Get back in vehicle and go to next spot. I've taken a boat to river islands and crossed shallow rivers in waders, then put my boots back on and hunted the thick riverbank Russian Olive and willow areas....but have never put much thought into which boot to wear, aside from not wearing tennis shoes. If I am in mucky areas I wear muck boots (rubber or neoprene). It isn't like a guy will be hiking miles into the backcountry in snow and ice.
Carry on I guess....but I'd put all of this effort and mental gymnastics into how and where to find unpressured birds, than what boots to wear to get to them.
