[jimbo2012]

July 16--The Villages President and Chief Operating Officer Mark Morse and his daughter Kelsea Morse Manly have purchased nearly 2,400 wooded acres just east of the Ocklawaha River in Marion County.

The father-daughter team bought the land from Rayonier Forest Resources through a newly created Florida company, Cow Hammock LLC. Both father and daughter are registered as managers of that company, according to state Division of Corporations records. The pair registered the company in April.

Neither Morse nor Manly returned a reporter's telephone calls. Their plans for the land, which is south of Fort McCoy and east of Ocala, are unclear. The property is zoned for agriculture use.

Cow Hammock bought the 2,391.42 acres for $7,041,566 from Rayonier, an international lumber, paper and real estate conglomerate based in Jacksonville.

Manly is part owner, along with her siblings, of Villages Communications Inc. The registered address of both the communications company and Cow Hammock is listed as 1020 Lake Sumter Landing, The Villages.

Morse and Manly were two of eight people in a well-publicized case involving illegal big game hunting in Montana. In 2011, Manly appeared in Yellowstone County Justice Court and pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges.

Citing court records, the Billings Gazette reported that Manly pleaded guilty to killing a turkey without a license and hunting an elk without the proper license. Her attorney, Matthew Wald, told the judge that his client had an elk license but not the license required to hunt with a bow. She was ordered to pay $2,095 in fines but was not banned from owning a fishing or hunting license.

Her father pleaded guilty in Yellowstone and Big Horn counties earlier this year to hunting elk without a license in 2007 and 2008. He was ordered to pay fines totaling $4,500 but was also not banned from owning a fishing or hunting license. The other six charged were family members, friends and business associates.

Morse owns the M Square Ranch in the Pine Ridge area of Yellowstone and Big Horn counties. He also co-owns Wolf Mountain Ranch in Big Horn and Rosebud counties, Montana.

It's unknown if the newly purchased land in Marion County will be used for hunting.