Missouri breaks Boat Type

A friend and I have wanted to do a breaks hunt by boat for either deer or elk for sometime and are looking to put in for that now. He has a 22ft willie predator sled but it's a prop not jet. He was wondering how deep the water runs in the river and if it would be deep enough to run his boat. I guess it depends on what part of the river but thought I reach out for any thoughts on if his boat would be good for this hunt. Thanks for any thoughts on this.

HD 621 would be the only district I would be worried about running a prop on the river.

Nemont

Thanks for the input, we'll remember your advice when looking at
the breaks units.

how slow is the MO flowing through the breaks? would a drift boat work or would you want the motor in case winds pick up?

I decided to put applying for this trip off until another year. I will be archery elk hunting Idaho and rifle mule deer Colorado instead. I forgot you had to draw the general season first before putting in for limited entry units and I couldn't commit to hunting general season there this year if I didn't draw the breaks.
Maybe someone else can answer that question.

I wouldn't take prop. Almost any place I've been you'll be going over spots of about 4-6 inches of water with and average depth of about 18". I've been stuck several times in jet boat because I slowed down.

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I ran a 19ft Blazer Bay. One of those Florida looking fiberglass center consoles on the Missouri River in the Breaks. It's a V?hull with a half tunnel that drafts about 11 inches when stopped and not fully loaded. It has an outboard Suzuki, but my saving grace was it also has a Jack Plate so I could lift the motor vertically about 6 inches higher than I normally would run - just enough to keep the prop in the water and cavitation to a minimum.

Most boats I saw with outboards were flat bottoms with old Johnson?s or evinrudes putting around - which would do you better and be less risky.

What I'll tell you from my experience, you'll be fine if you take it slow and easy until you learn the channels in the river.

Around corners and bends, the channels tend to be on the side with the High Cliffs. If it has a high steep cliff, there seems to be a channel associated with the cliff edge - even if it seems very close to the shore - there?re generally a channel there.

In the straight areas of the river, you can usually see the shallow spots to avoid as there were logs or other telling debris stuck in the mud.

We got lucky and didn't get stuck at all, but it would be a good idea to bring something you can use as Push Poles long enough to provide leverage Incase you find yourself on one of the mud bars.

For Hunting the Breaks - Bring a Tree Stand of some kind if you're hunting the flats. The Willows are so thick, it's like hunting in the Vietnam Jungle. The Mountain lions are thick as flees - you'll find lion kills all over the place. We got growled at, and also saw cat eyes starring at us along the edge of a trail while walking out with a headlamp. Bring your choice of lion deterrent or maybe apply for a lion tag?

There are some massive bulls and plenty of elk hiding in the willows, but it seems impossible to get a shot through the jungle without getting high off the ground. There are some cotton wood trees you could set up a tree stand.

One more thought - bring something to tie too. Like a T-post or something you can hammer into the ground. When you find a spot you want to hunt, there isn't always something readily available to tie up on, so looking back if I could do things over, I would have brought a few T-post with me.