It will take time
Hey Greysen, welcome to the forum. One of the easiest things to do if you're looking for a place to go is to contact your local DOW office and talk to them. They can put you in touch with a DOW officer who is familiar with the best areas. Another way to go would be to pick up a copy of the Walk In Access map at your local licensing agent. This will give you a place to start and a map of land that is open to the public. One word of advise, these areas usually get hunted hard and often so I can't say enough about scouting them early to find the best ones. A third way to go, if you have the money, is to check with the towns in pheasant country and see if they have a hunt set up. I know that Burlington and Akron both have organizations whereby you pay a modest fee and you're given a hat and a map of land that is open to hunt. That's the way I started and it gave me a chance to find some good private land to hunt.
As far as hunting alone and/or without a dog, it can be done, it can be fun, but it won't be easy. When I first started hunting in Colorado I didn't have a dog but that didn't stop me from bagging some birds. One of the tactics I used was to walk along side a promising looking field for about 100 yards then turn into the field. Walk in a SLOW zig-zag manner back toward the corner of the field and keep your gun ready. By doing this you confuse the birds and push them toward the road or really low cover surrounding the field and the birds stand a better chance of popping up when you reach the road. One piece of advise, as you approach the road stop walking about 10 yards before the edge of the cover and wait for a couple of minutes. I know it sounds crazy but this has the effect of making any birds that are there nervous and they will be more likely to take wing. I've seen too many guys walk right by a rooster that was hunkered down only to have them fly off laughing at them after they walked by.
If you can trust your dog to stay within 30 yards or so of you and not take off running then take him with you. At least this will give you another little advantage for popping up birds.
In any case, expect to burn some shoe leather. Dog or no dog you will be doing a lot of walking. Walk SLOW. I've seen guys blow through a field like they were in a marathon and I've walked the same field right after they did and put up birds.
Good luck and good hunting.
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