The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 11 letter word RING-NECKED
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
R
I
N
G
-
N
E
C
K
E
D
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "pheasant, maybe" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case pheasant, maybe = ring-necked.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.