July 3, 2024
By: Dwayne Page
DeKalb County has a new Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency Officer.
Colt Elrod of Cookeville joins longtime TWRA Officer Tony Cross assigned to DeKalb County. Elrod has been a TWRA officer for two years. He and his wife of four years Delaney have a young child, Leo who is only a few weeks old.
Elrod said he enjoys working in this area and hopes to be here for a long time.
“I am originally from Mississippi. That’s where my mom’s family is from. We moved around a little bit when I was growing up. My stepdad was in the military. I came back to Cookeville and started school at Tennessee Tech in 2016. I graduated in 2020 and worked for a couple of years doing some graduate things. I got hired by TWRA two years ago and went down to Chattanooga and served as an officer there for about a year and a half. It was an interesting time in my life and I learned a lot but I really like it here,” said Elrod.
Colt said becoming a game warden was not always his life’s ambition.
“I grew up loving to hunt and fish and people used to ask me when I was younger about maybe someday becoming a game warden, but I would say I didn’t want to do that. When the time came for me to get a job, I knew I wanted to be in the wildlife field. I had a friend who was an officer and he tried to talk me into it saying I would be a good fit with TWRA. The more I thought about it the more I realized that this would be a great way to become involved with the hunting and fishing community the way I wanted to be, so I decided to give it a shot. I got hired and ended up loving it. This has been a perfect fit for me,” said Elrod.