Golden pheasant

Scientific name: Chrysolophus pictus

How weight is recorded: Whole weight

Field notes

Appearance

Males display brilliant golden-yellow crested heads, scarlet underparts, and iridescent green-bronze upperparts with barred flanks; females are cryptic olive-brown with buff underparts and shorter tails. Males are noticeably larger and more colourful; females are subdued and difficult to spot in cover.

Size and weight

Males 90–105 cm (including tail), 350–450 kg. Females 60–75 cm, 250–350 kg.

Habitat

Golden pheasants inhabit dense, steep mountainous terrain with thick bamboo thickets, rhododendron scrub, and coniferous forest. They favour altitudes between 1,200–3,300 m with mossy ground cover and minimal open space.

Distribution

Native to the mountains of central China (Sichuan, Yunnan, Tibet); they are sedentary and occupy steep, forested ridges and ravines where dense understorey provides year-round concealment.

Diet

Golden pheasants eat seeds, berries, insects, and leafy vegetation; they scratch and peck ground litter year-round, with increased fruit consumption in autumn and winter.

Behaviour

Primarily crepuscular, most active at dawn and dusk when they forage on the ground; they roost in trees at night and are reluctant fliers, preferring to run upslope when alarmed. They are solitary or in pairs outside breeding season.

Hunting tips

Look for scratched patches in moss and leaf litter, fine droppings (2–3 cm), and feather fragments in feeding areas on slopes. Stalk slowly uphill through dense cover at dawn or dusk, moving silently and pausing frequently to listen for alarm calls or scratching sounds. Approach into wind and use contours to close distance on birds heard or spotted in open understory patches.

Whole weight

This species is logged by whole weight — the animal weighed entire, as taken.

Where it is hunted

Listed as huntable in 1 country in Huntify.

France

Names in other languages

These field notes are general species knowledge, not legal advice. Always check the current seasons, quotas and firearm rules where you hunt.