I am headed out to South Dakota to hunt birds again this year. I have finally found myself in a
position that allows me to take a decent amount of leave and am planning on
driving out from North Carolina with my dad. We are taking part in a guided
hunt the last 3 days we are there but to make the drive worth it we are
planning on arriving early to hunt a little more to make the drive out worth
it.

We put in for waterfowl licenses and we actually both ended up drawing
which is great, hunt ducks in the AM and pheasants in the PM. The plan right
now is to hunt public land. Additionally, I have been training my lab and
this will be his first hunt on some wild birds.

Here is why I am posting, I know this is a longshot but I figured I would
give it a go, cant hurt to ask. Are there any landowners interested in
allowing permission to hunt birds (and ONLY birds) on their land? The total
number in the group would be 3 - my dad, a close family friend, and myself.
I can assure you we are all diligent and responsible hunters, rule
followers, and respectful. Also, I am well aware nothing is for free and I
believe that we could come to an agreement making it worthwhile.
We are staying in Platte (Charles Mix) before we start up with the
guide, however the waterfowl licenses that we drew for are good everywhere
EXCEPT Charles Mix, Bon Homme, Yankton, Clay and Union Counties. We are
looking for any areas to hunt waterfowl in Brule, Aurora, Douglas, Gregory,
and Hutchinson Counties. However, we are open to hunt pheasant anywhere in
the state. The dates that we are going to be out free lancing are 28 Oct - 1 Nov.

I know it's a long shot, but this board is generally full of some good guys.
Figured I might as well put the feelers out. The plan is to hunt public
lands but it would be very beneficial to be able to access some private
lands, but if it doesn't pan out then we just stick to the original plan.
Thanks!

We just got back from south Dakota.  Look into the public hunting Atlas.  I am not sure where you are going, but there is a lot of private land enrolled in the program.  My daughter took her deer on the CHAP program lands in Fall River County.  It was a good experience and we drove around a lot afterwards scouting other areas from a distance.  There is quite a bit of land available.

There is so much public land and leased CREP land that you should have no problem finding good places to hunt. The SDGFP even has an app that overlays the various hunting areas on a satellite map.

This is pretty good for planning a hunt
http://gfp.sd.gov/images/WebMaps/Viewer/WILMA/

There is massive amounts of public hunting available in my area North of Aberdeen but I have hardly seen any birds. On a normal year I will see 4-5 every day on my way to work and back but I have seen a TOTAL of 3 birds all year. So maybe skip the NE part of the state. Should be good hunting in the central and southern parts. Its actually down statewide but some areas are hit harder than others.

http://www.gfp.sd.gov/hunting/small-game/pheasant-outlook.aspx

The past 5-6 years have been hard on the birds. Some of the GFP people are talking about closing the season in some areas for a year or two or lowering limits from 3 to 1 bird a day. A lot of locals in the area have stopped hunting them wanting the numbers to rebound a little.

Thanks for the replies guys!

I have a hard copy, digital copy, and loaded that atlas into my GPS - SD does a fantastic job of putting all the information out there for hunters. The main plan is to hunt public land, but figured it wouldnt hurt to see what else is out there.

Unfortunately, I heard the same thing about numbers being down this year. Last year out there was rough as well. Regardless, always a good time in SD.

Supposedly the numbers are down 45% from last year. Supposedly the numbers were artificially inflated the last couple of years. Good luck.

Take a look at the 30 day and 60 day rainfall maps for south dakota and that will help you narrow down where to start looking for ducks.  of the counties you listed, the eastern most have received a lot of rain and you'll find a lot of our local ducks and early migrators have taken to flooded pastures and flooded bean fields, and the occasional flooded cornfield.  Many land owners will allow permission for waterfowl hunting in that part of the state, so it won't hurt to knock on some doors "for ducks."