> Accounts that glorified the "adventure" of going into their habitats, killing their prey, and then shooting them with gun powder and a metal slug.

Except for the gun powder and metal slugs, that “adventure” is the story of humanity’s rise and spread. Humans are native to only a very small part of the world. We became the way we are because humans did go into new habitats, challenged the apex predators, took their prey, and displaced the previous apex predators.

That story of adventure resonates because it has resonated for millennia (consider the myths and paintings and sculptures). That story resonates, because you and I are descendants of people just like that who entered new habitats and outthought, outorganized, and outfought, all the predators that would want to kill them.

So my sympathies are with the man and not the leopard.