What brand will depend on the amount of money you wish to invest into this sport. If I did not own a rifle at this time, and wanted to hunt, it would be a Knight rolling block, Thompson Center Triumph, Savage Smokeless if inlines were my interest. If traditional were the way I wanted to go it would be a .54 caliber Thompson Center Arms Hawkins, Lyman Trade Rifle, or Thompson Center Firestorm.

Caliber is easy.. 50 caliber in the inlines, .54 caliber in the traditional rifles.

If you are permitted the use of optics, and you want to hunt a couple more days a year, and maybe some ocassional range time, an inline would be the way to go. If optics are not allowed, a tradtional rifle will do about anything an inline will. You want a real challenge, get a flintlock. They take some learning to do, but once you master them, they are a lot of fun to shoot and hunt with.