how often are you going to shoot and how much do you want to spend on ammo? you should answer that first, second either gun is ok to hunt small game but you need to look at what you want to hunt because Ohio laws only allow certain things you can hunt with, I AM NOT SURE but i dont believe you can hunt rabbits in Ohio with a 17 or a 22? If you want to ground hog hunt or something similer i personally would go with the 17HMR. if you are just plincking and maybe shooting some squirrels then go with the .22