BAKER CITY — Taylor Gyllenberg didn’t think she’d ever see the elk antlers and skull again but there they were, on a table at the Baker City Police Department.

She couldn’t take them home quite yet.

But eventually the trophy will end up just where Gyllenberg intended, decorating her wall. The antlers and skull are from the elk Gyllenberg killed Oct. 27 in the Sumpter unit.

It was the first bull for Gyllenberg, 18.

After butchering the elk, Gyllenberg and her boyfriend spent many hours preparing the skull and antlers for what’s known as a European or skull mount. But then, on the morning of Nov. 18, she discovered that someone the previous night or early that morning had taken the trophy from the yard of her boyfriend’s home in Baker City.

“I don’t see how someone could take something that they didn’t work on themselves,” Gyllenberg said later that day. “I just think it’s sickening to know that someone could ever take something they didn’t even work to get.”

Although Gyllenberg’s friends helped her offer a $750 reward for the return of the antlers and skull, she said in an interview on Thursday, Dec. 15, that she figured the trophy was gone, leaving her with elk meat and memories of the hunt.

But then she got a call from Ty Duby, Baker City police chief.

It was Tuesday, Dec. 13, and police had found what they believed was Gyllenberg’s trophy during a warrant search of the home at 435 Spring Garden Ave. where Joshua James Smith, 40, was living.

Duby asked Gyllenberg to visit the police station to confirm that the antlers and skull were from her bull.

That didn’t take long.

After devoting so much time to preparing the trophy, Gyllenberg was familiar with its tines and beams.

“I was so stoked — really happy,” Gyllenberg said. “It was crazy to see them sitting on the table in front of me.”

Duby said the tip that led to the recovery of the antlers came from someone who contacted Gyllenberg’s family and “wanted to do the right thing.”

That information led to Smith, whom the Baker County Narcotics Enforcement Team was already investigating, Duby said.

The theft will be referred to the Baker County District Attorney’s Office, according to a press release from the police department. Gyllenberg said she is “really thankful” for Duby’s efforts.

She plans to give the reward money to the person who led police to the antlers and skull.

Gyllenberg is also certain about one other matter regarding the antlers.

“I won’t be leaving them outside ever again.”

“It was crazy to see them sitting on the table in front of me.”

— Taylor Gyllenberg, talking about the elk antlers and skull stolen from her boyfriend’s home last month