I wouldn't go smaller than a 14' deep V and an 18-20hp motor if you are running more than a mile from the ramp. Something with some freeboard would be the direction I would go, but others will likely offer different opinions. I am assuming you will be running in the dark to come and go from boat ramp to your hunting destinations, so, a good handheld rechargeable spotlight, with a backup light, is a primary piece of equipment for you to have onboard at ALL times. When you are underway, use it to determine if there are any deadheads floating in your course. ALWAYS assume that whenever the water level has risen, woody debris will be liberated from the floodplain and be potentially present in the navigation channel. There are some nice low-draw LED light banks for sale now that mount permanently on the bow and throw a wide and penetrating beam.
For heaters, I prefer a Coleman catylitic with a vertical stand added to the disposable propane tank rather than the wire support bracket that comes with these. You can heat-up water or soup on the heater's surface and it offers a flameless source of warmth. That said, always keep in mind that gas fumes are heavier than air and will sink and accumulate in the boat's interiors-do not ignite your heater after refilling your tank until you have sufficiently moved some air through the boat, or add an external fill spout to the boat's hull. A good push pole, a boat hook, as well as an outboard that offers shallow water drive settings is a must. I carry all the USCG safety and signalling equipment required in an 18' hull as well, even though I hunt out of a TDB-14 classic. When running with the blind up, I remove my front blind panel and clip it on the port side so I have a clear sight channel off my bow when underway. A tiller handle extendsion is a nice aide, but I would encourage you to not run the boat from a standing position under any low-light or limited visibility conditions. Use your Dead-Man tether on the outboard kill switch.
Since it appears you haven't operated a boat in waters open to commercial navigation, I would encourage you to take a Coast Guard Auxillary Boater's Safety Course or, at minimum, pick-up a stick-on applique' with all of the Aids to Navigation displayed on it, along with an explanation of what these lights, buoys, and daymarks represent-memorize the Navigation Aids that indicate inshore navigation hazards and run the river section you plan to hunt in daylight to determine if any of these are present. Attach this somewhere in the boat where you can reference it. If you get on the river in the morning in half-light a couple of times, you will gain experience in using navigation aids in poor light as well as having the luxury of returning to the ramp in daylight, further familiarizing yourself with the river sections you will be hunting. Running in the navigation channel course is also a little safer from a deadhead collision perspective, since barge and ship traffic will physically displace these to off-channel river sections.
If you will be carrying a lot of decoys along with the dog and a hunting partner, again load the boat with all its intended contents and get on the water in daylight to determine how the boat's load will impact handling characteristics. Also, add a rubber mallet to your toolbox. This can be used to break-off any ice build-up on the hull and decking, which can also radically alter how the boat will handle. Practice backing and manuevering in high current and low current areas with the boat loaded to get a feel for the range of speeds that will enable you to maintain control.
A very simplistic model of how moving water dissipates kinetic energy is to view a river as a standard sign-wave. As water moves downslope in a river's channel, bedload and suspended sediment loads will vary with current speed. Current scour, and therefore channel depth, will always be greatest on the outside of a bend in the river's channel. Potential sandbar and shoreline snag sites are the inside of these bends, usually a third of the way around the bend.
From a waterfowker's standpoint, get on GoogleEarth and look over the river sections you plan to hunt. Note the year the photo was taken(usually located on the bottom margin of the Screenshot). Look for isolated oxbows and mark the Lat/long coordinates down for these sites so you can scout them in the field by referencing their locations on a handheld GPS. These are great duck holding waters, as are sandbars on the downstrean leg of islands, and sandbars on the backside of river bends. Look for oats and cut-corn in the adjacent farm fields and you have the recipe ingredients for Duck and Goose hotspots. In cold weather birds will roost very close to their food sources. Waterfowl feeding in cornfields need a boatload of water to aide in digestion. As still water ponds and lakes freeze-up river courses become major roost sites for ducks and geese.
Good luck and stay safe.
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