Guys here hunt with 16 and less. How far are you really going to be taking a shot and knowing that you can humanely harvest an animal? - that tight there sets your range you need to have both accuracy and effectiveness in. 16 will meet that need all day long. And for a hunting gun, I’d run a lighter profile barrel to shave as many ounces as you can off it.
Depending at what range you target shoot, you might find yourself happy with a shorter gun, or if you really like the look and added FPS of the 20”, you might go that way. That’s how these guys end up with a dozen rifles. Different builds for different tasks and different looks. There is no “right answer”. All comes down to you, what you like, and what you want it to do.
edit to add: there is also no “one size fits all”. A benchrest guy will Not be happy with a pencil profile 16 and a hunter would be somewhat hating life to lug around a 24” bull barrel for 3 days in the mountains. Somewhere in the middle would be a compromise, but it wouldn’t be “the best gun ever” for either situation.