Was curious what the current US customs laws are for the ownership or importation of Ivory. If I were to go hunting for elephant in Africa and took a good bull could I bring my ivory back for my own use?

It is illegal to import ivory into the USA.  Refer to CITES regulations for specific details.  Worldwide trade in ivory is banned.  There was a conference last year positing the chance the restrictions MAY be lifted for SOME African nations that have amassed large stockpiles of ivory.

Ivory possessed prior to the trade ban may be legally possessed.

[url]www.cites.org[/url]

You can import ivory trophies from SOME African countries. International trade(sales) in ivory is prohibited. Mozambique is one of the countries that is an unimportable country. Zimbabwean(along with other countries) ivory is importable, for trophies only.

Covers Namibia, Botswana, and South Africa, read pages 5 & 6, trade in hunting trophies.
http://www.cites.org/common/cop/12/appendix_notice.PDF
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
CITES export quotas for Zim in 2002.
http://www.cites.org/eng/resources/quotas/2002/country/zimbabwe.shtml
Loxodonta africana
800
  tusks as hunting trophies from 400 animals
(Note: see Notif. 2002/011)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
U.S. Fish and Wildlife

Importing African Leopard and Elephant Tropies
http://international.fws.gov/pdf/salaet.pdf

BTW if you have any other African hunting questions or hunting in general, check out this website:
http://www.serveroptions.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi

This is ACCURATERELOADING.com's message boards. Very good info on Africa and big bore guns.

P.S.
I'm going to Namibia in April for a plains game hunt. 108 days to go! Not that I'm counting or anything...

If you're an Alaska Eskimo, you can kill walrus for their ivory (well, not FOR the ivory itself but as a by-product of killing it for food and material for traditional subsistence lifestyle)and possess it in its raw form.

If you're not an Eskimo, it's illegal to buy, sell, or possess raw walrus ivory.  After it has been carved, scrimshawed or whatever, it's legal.

I know this has nothing to do with your question, but in case you're interested.