Awesome you have chosen an Airrifle to hunt with, they can be very rewarding tools in the field for small game. As mentioned I would recommend a .22 and the fpe would be greater at out to 60 yards. I don't hunt much with piston guns but have had my hands on a few. Without spending a fortune and if all you want is a casual type hunter I would recommend something with a nitro piston. You can check pyramidair.com browse or see if you can find a Benjamin NPXL .22/ *Note- the newer NP2 models are not as nice in my opinion and believe you can still find the gen1 models being sold. I have found them to be quite pleasurable to shoot and do have good power. Without spending more you really won't find the perfect combo but enough to get by on. The PCP route may be a bigger commitment than your ready for. Plenty of high end piston guns may give you better accuracy and trigger but in the end your still limited to shorter distances. Have fun and let us know what you decided on!