As far as pheasants go, yes, a lot of them are easy to hit--especially if you hunt private land where they don't get pressured much, and especially where a lot of the birds are pen-raised.
That's very different than hunting public-land pheasants, especially late in the season. They're still not as hard as some other wild birds--especially wild chukars on steep hillsides when you're breathing hard, or ruffed grouse, or (as I mentioned earlier) African rock pigeons. But I hunt probably 80% of my pheasants on public land, where they're chased hard for several months each year. Last year the closest shot I got was early in the season--in a shelterbelt that resembled ruffed grouse cover more than typical open private land. The range was about 30 yards, and it took quick shooting.
The others were all taken at 35 to 50 yards, with the longer shots occurring when there was some crunchy snow on the ground, as it often is later in the season. And they were hunted with experienced dogs, both careful flushers and good pointers.
I find hunting wild birds on public land more interesting than on private land. In fact about 20 years ago, when I was doing some "finishing" research on bird-hunting in various parts of the U.S. for SHOTGUNS FOR WINGSHOOTING, and Eileen needed a bunch of wild birds for her book, UPLAND BIRD COOKERY, we put 18,000 miles on our vehicles one fall. We not only hunted wild birds in places from the U.P. of Michigan to eastern Oregon, and Arizona to Alberta, but our young dog (a Lab/Llewellyn setter cross) got to hunt 11 species--and he adapted nicely! In fact, toward the end of the fall more than one of our fellow hunters asked to hunt over Gideon. It was a great autumn, partly because we got lucky and hit various areas just at the right time, including the U.P. just as the woodcock came in....
