More than a dozen drug agents and deputies in Marion County spent all of Wednesday taking out 15-foot marijuana plants from swamp land in Reddick.

A sheriff's office pilot spotted Jesse Reese's crop by accident.

"He was on his way to assist another agency, on a totally unrelated case, where he spotted this area where these plants were growing," said Jenifer Lowe, Marion County Sheriff's Office spokesperson.

696 marijuana plants, over 400 pounds of dope, that deputies say, stood out like a sore thumb from the air.

"Street value is about a thousand dollars per plant, so you're looking at over three quarters of a million dollars in marijuana growing there in that pond," said Lowe.

Reese lived in a trailer on his mother's property, just beside the path to his secret stash.

It's a journey Reese made on foot, deep into the woods behind his mother's property.

"It did appear he was doing it himself, we're not looking for additional suspects or anything like that at this time," said Lowe.

A grow field, that deputies say is the biggest they've seen and took out in one day.

"He basically said, I'm growing for personal use and for my friends," she said.