To get back to the OP and away from all this extraneous noise: "We were standing at the bottom of a small rise and I explained that a Rooster just flushed up in front of me and was flying up, toward the top of the rise."
That says to me that it's a low-flying bird and there is the possibility of some person or livestock which is out of sight but could be hit by pellets which still have enough force to cause injury. From the hunt shows on TV, it appears that pheasants tend to be low-flying birds, generally, so more care is called for.
IOW, don't take chances when you're unsure of what is or might be downrange. That's easy enough.
This sort of situation is not at all common when hunting waterfowl, dove or quail. Those shots are commonly taken at rather high angles, and by the time the shot falls back to the ground they're harmless.
I know from experience that the logical reaction to #8 or #7-1/2 shot falling on a person from shots fired a hundred yards away should be to sing, "Listen to the murmur of the falling rain..."
