If you can’t imagine losing a 300-pound ceramic deer, the people who run the lost and found department at the Island County Sheriff’s Office might be able to tell you about someone who has.

The ceramic deer, surf boards, bikes: The Island County Sheriff’s Office has seen it all in its evidence and property room, which can be more or less a lost and found, depending on how careless county residents are with their belongings. And all of it, from the confiscated guns to the misplaced breast implants — yes, breast implants — make for interesting stories for sheriff’s Chief Criminal Deputy Russ Lindner.

“It’s limitless,” he said of the range of items people lose and find. “It’s amazing what the population in their day-to-day activities come up with.”

The items most often turned into the Island County Sheriff’s Office are keys, cell phones and cameras, many of which are set down and forgotten. Most recently Lindner said a man walking on his property found a partially buried bucket containing a hand gun and survival magazines.

Lost and found property is turned into the Island County Sheriff’s Office at one of their precincts, or can be picked up by a deputy. It is logged by Lieutenant Harry Uncapher, and a found property notice must by law be published as “found” in local newspapers. One November ad placed by the sheriff’s office gave notice of several racks of bottled beer and alcoholic cooler drinks abandoned on rural private property in the Bayview area.

If a found items is not claimed, the person who found it can make a late-claim request to pick it up in 60 days. Pay a $10 fee to the Island County Treasurer for processing the property and the finder can take away whatever it is he or she found.

“Basically, if it’s not illegal to possess, you can put a late-claim on it,” Lindner said.

Items that are not claimed are either destroyed, or if of value, they are sold in a surplus auction. The funds from the auction go into Island County’s current expense funds, according to Lindner.

But, sometimes, the people who lost property do come looking for it. Lindner said a man found a collapsible dingy on the beach this year, which was apparently a sweet prize for the beachgoer. After the original owner saw the found property notice, it wasn’t long until he had his boat back.

“The gentleman spotted it and called up and the connection was made,” Lindner said.

Lindner does not know what became of the 300-pound cement deer, but said deputies personally dragged it up to the intake area to surprise Lieutenant Uncapher.

“It almost became a pet after a while because it was there for several months,” Lindner said and laughed.

And for anyone wondering, the breast implants also went unclaimed.

As for the abandoned booze, whomever lost it did not come forward to claim it. Lindner said the man who found it knew the location was a popular hangout spot where local teenagers gathered to drink. The man turned in dozens of bottles Bud, hard cider, Corona, Bacardi Silver and other drinks.

Owing to the fact that the bottles were probably left behind by teens leery of a confrontation with the law, the finder got claim and take alcohol.

One of the department’s most popular items is bicycles, according to Lindner.

“There’s a lot of lost 10-speeds out there,” he said. “Or stolen ones.”

Lindner said his office’s stash of dozens of bikes were recently donated to the Whidbey Naval Air Station, where they were refurbished and given to children.

But don’t think the sheriff’s office is the only place that is collecting Whidbey Islanders’ forgotten detritus. Every day, people lose their valuables and not so valuables at athletic clubs, schools, public halls and stores — many of which have their own lost and found bins.

At South Whidbey schools, the lost and found bins are usually filled to the brim, but with the same items year after year.

Langley Middle School Student secretary Sara Beust said she sees many coats come through the office’s doors. After displaying the lost and found items several times throughout the year, the items are eventually given away.

“If they don’t pick it up then it goes to Good Cheer,” Beust said.

While pawing through her valuables drawer, she found a plastic-wrapped 1945 silver dollar, watches and jewelry.

“This is interesting,” Beust said holding up a pair of glasses, “That they don’t ever miss these.”

But boxes of nice coats and shoes are the norm, she said, so many they are kept in the boiler room because they take up so much space.

It is the same story at the South Whidbey Intermediate School, where Secretary Renee Bilyeu said the schools lost and found is filled with coats, hats, stuffed and mittens.

“Who knows what else is in there,” Bilyeu said and laughed.

At this school, losers and finders are on the honor system. The school’s lost and found bins are placed in a hallway, where those who have lost can paw through the piles of stuff in search of something missing.

They best way for getting rid of the items according to Bilyeu is to put them out during parent/teacher conferences, when parents snap up their children’s belongings.