Does your family read the Bible??? If they do then they should realize that the plants, animals and other creatures were put here for our use...

Anyway...a bolt action rifle is the most popular, there are many great brands, most will shoot better than many can hold...I'd start by just going to a few sporting good stores and seeing which ones appeal to you, take a buddy and he can point out the differences...

As far as caliber, many will work, as a new shooter you will want a caliber that doesn't kick too bad so you don't develope a bad habit called flintching...Some of the more popular calibers are...243, 7mm-08,
.270 and 25-06...None of these kick too bad and all are effective...