The California Bowmen Hunters organization was established on May 5, 1943. Bill Childs of the Northern California Field Archers and Roy Hoff of the Southern California Field Archers met in Sacramento at a meeting of the Fish & Game Commission of California. They decided at that time that if the two organizations formed a state organization, it would give archers the power to promote legislation to improve archery hunting as well as the means to better expose the sport of archery to the general public. In 1948 a third region became part of CBH. The regions then quickly grew to thirteen.

A formal Legislative team was established in 1962, consisting of a Legislative Chairman and a Northern and Southern Legislative Representative. It was then decided that three Second Vice-Presidents would oversee the three main areas of interest: Hunting, Field and Target Archery.

1962 saw the birth of the Big Game Club. This section maintains hunting records and promotes hunting in California. The Big Game Club was founded in 1962 in order to provide a record of big game animals taken by bowhunters in California. To date, there are more than 1200 different bowhunters with record-book entries. The Big Game Club periodically publishes a Record Book listing all of these bowhunters and their accomplishments. The newest edition was printed in 1999.

In 1967, The California State Archery Association merged with the California Bowmen Hunters forming the organization we know today as the California Bowmen Hunters & State Archery Association.

The California Archery Hall of Fame was sanctioned by CBH/SAA in 1977 and has honored many of the great archers of California who have made outstanding contributions to the promotion of archery in California.

In 1981, CBH/SAA affiliated with the National Bowhunter Education Program. This had been a National Field Archery Program that became an independent entity that year.