You can harvest ivory without killing the elephant immediately, if you are willing to put in the extra effort to do so. I expect the average poacher isn't. How

You can harvest ivory without killing the elephant immediately, if you are willing to put in the extra effort to do so. I expect the average poacher isn't. However, a tusk-less elephant is a severely disabled elephant. You may not have shot it dead on the spot, but someone who de-tusks an elephant for the ivory has very likely killed it anyway.