Well, I've come to like soft feathers. I've not shot em all that much, but as I said they are on short arrows and so they are shot from shorter bows with a shorter draw, but they flew as well as any arrow I've ever had, no problems whatsoever. Mind you though, the ones I have made have bone arrowheads on em and I've not tried any arrows with shorter pheasant feathers or without hunting heads on em. I recommend em, if you've got some. The ones I have I bought from Hobby Lobby.
On a related topic I also have some arrows I've made with grouse tail feathers. I'll try to post them as well. They also fly awesome, but I flecthed them a little differently since the feathers were so small and delicate. I put on 3 whole tail feathers, laying down flat against the shaft. Hopefully I can post pics and you all can see what I mean.
If I'm not totally mistaken, Jackcrafty has made arrows with pheasant also. Maybe he'll chime in too.
CP