ARCHERY LEGACY.
A living historical library of the bows that shaped our sport. Explore vintage recurves, landmark compound bows and discontinued models by manufacturer, era and bow type. Open a bow record for the original specifications, documented media, and historical references.
THE STORIES BEHIND THE BOWS
Go beyond the specifications. Explore the first archers, a timeline of bow technology, Fred Bear, Ben Pearson, the Hoyt family, Howard Hill, and the invention of the compound bow. Includes BHP's original Fred Bear documentary.
▶ BHP ORIGINALExplore manufacturer histories →OUTDOOR MEDIA PIONEERS & VOICES
Meet 13 outdoor storytellers and industry contributors—from Mort Neff and Fred Trost to today’s broadcasters, writers and archery educators.
Meet the storytellers →BOWHUNTERPLANET CLASSIC SERIES
See original Bowhunterplanet coverage of bows from earlier eras, matched to the correct model in the Archery Legacy database. The 1996 Whitetail Master leads the Classic collection; other vintage BHP Testlab reviews are collected alongside it.
ARCHERY CLASSIC · 1996Bear Whitetail MasterView bow & original BHP film ↗
BHP TESTLAB · 2014Bear Agenda 6View bow & original video ↗
BHP TESTLAB · 2014Bear Anarchy HCView bow & original video ↗
BHP ARCHIVE · 2019Bear PerceptionView bow & original video ↗
BHP ARCHIVE · 2021Bear Whitetail LegendView bow & original video ↗
Archery Classic is a BHP original video series. Additional older BHP reviews appear here as part of the broader video archive; they are not all episodes of the named Classic Series. Every featured link matches its specific bow model.
FIND BOWS FROM THE 2020s
The modern index is being built from original manufacturers’ product and manual catalogs. Choose a year or brand to search. The year shown identifies a documented release/model-year listing, not proof of every production year. Unverified specifications remain labeled pending.
Model names/links have been sourced, but this collection is not yet a verified exhaustive release-history for every manufacturer. Some brands ended production before 2020, and 2027 releases remain limited to models publicly announced so far.
Preserve the history. Verify the details.
Model names imported from published manufacturer catalogs are distinguished from fully sourced specification sheets. Each profile links to its research source. “Model index only” means its performance measurements still need entry—not that the source or bow is unreliable. Historical photos, videos, and manuals are attached only to the matching model.
CATALOG FINDER
Find saved model specifications, factory catalogs, manuals and historical brochures in one place. Year-by-year specification tables are stored here on BHP. Original PDFs and scans open at their credited publishers.
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Open the dedicated Bowtech manual library →
Published source tables remain subject to manufacturer cross-checking. Images, videos, articles and complete publications require separate reuse permission before BHP hosts copies.