Johnna Pinholster
The Valdosta Daily Times
STATENVILLE —
Half-a-million dollars worth of marijuana was discovered by law enforcement in Echols County Tuesday evening.
The Echols County Sheriff’s Office came upon the multiple plots of marijuana down Bug Break off of Highway 94 West at 6 p.m., Sept. 7, said Sheriff Randy Courson.
The plants were found on the Wolf Bay Hunting Club, about 18 miles west of Statenville.
Down a small foot trail, 123 plants were found. The plants, which measured between eight- and 13-feet tall, have an estimated street value of $4,500 each.
Courson said that a patrol of the area, which is owned by Superior Pine and is leased as a hunting club, resulted in the discovery of the plants.
“We could smell it from the road,” Courson said.
The patrols of the woods in Echols County and its various leased hunting clubs are a regular part of the sheriff’s department’s work, Courson said.
On Wednesday, a South Georgia Drug Task Force agent said the smaller plots have become more popular as they are easier to hide. It was once not uncommon to find plots of a thousand or more plants in the county, he said.
The marijuana was planted in between the rows of planted timber. The growers planted the crop in a row, much like vegetables are planted, to allow for better irrigation.
A swampy area near the plots provided the growers with water for the plants, Courson said.
Younger plants were placed in small plastic children’s pools close to the larger plants. Several empty plots where marijuana might have been planted previously were also discovered in the area.
The female plants, which produce the bud that is smoked, were close to harvest at the time of the discovery, Courson said. Each female plant can produce about a pound of marijuana, Courson said. A plant of the quality found in Echols County can be worth $4,500, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency.
The plants are usually harvested before gun season begins on the hunting clubs, Courson said.
The plot also had several bags of fertilizer, which Courson hopes will produce fingerprints and possibly lead to an arrest.
The plants were removed from the Wolf Bay Hunting Club on Wednesday morning and immediately burned by the Echols County Sheriff’s Office and South Georgia Drug Task Force.
Three weeks ago, the Echols County Sheriff’s Office made a smaller discovery with the help of a helicopter from the Governor’s Drug Task Force. Forty-five plants on the same hunting club were removed and burned by the Echols County Sheriff’s Office.
