Location: Lebanon, Mo.
County: Laclede
Owners: Tyler Hawkins
History of the business: 417 Drones LLC was started in 2025 in Southwest Missouri as a locally owned and operated drone service business. The business began with a focus on using thermal drone technology to help hunters, farmers, and pet owners recover animals that could otherwise be difficult or impossible to find from the ground.
As demand grew, 417 Drones expanded beyond deer recovery into additional agricultural, residential, wildlife, and mapping services. The business now operates a DJI Matrice 4T thermal drone platform and serves customers throughout the surrounding Missouri area.
What are the products and services offered? Thermal deer recovery, lost pet and livestock recovery, deer herd inventory and analysis, wildlife surveys, crop imaging and agricultural inspections, roof and solar inspections, aerial property mapping, wildlife habitat and property surveys, construction mapping, aerial documentation of buried utilities and construction projects.
What are some of the most popular products and/or services offered? “Wildlife, pet, and livestock recoveries is our best known service. We done 46 recoveries in 54 days in our first year of business and was able to maintain a 84% rate of recovery.”
Future plans: The future goal for 417 Drones is to continue expanding from primarily thermal recovery work into a full-service aerial imaging, mapping, agricultural, and wildlife-management company.
Plans include expanding herd-analysis and property-surveying services, providing landowners with better information for wildlife habitat improvement, increasing agricultural applications, and continuing to develop commercial mapping and inspection services.
Possibly investing in more specialized Drones for specific services. (Pressure washing, crop spraying, material carrying)
Business philosophy: 417 Drones is built around providing customers with an honest service at a fair price and using technology to solve real-world problems.
The company believes customers should receive a straightforward assessment of what a drone can and cannot accomplish rather than being promised a result simply to make a sale. Whether working with a hunter searching for a deer, a farmer evaluating crops, or a property owner needing an inspection, the goal is to provide useful information and professional service.
Because many calls – particularly deer, pet, and livestock recoveries – can be time-sensitive, responsiveness and reliability are also central to the business. 417 Drones aims to treat every customer’s property with respect, operate safely and responsibly, and build its reputation through results, customer service, and word-of-mouth referrals.
