RE: BOWTECH LIFETIME WARRANTY
I believe they (the company) would prefer you attempted to work through the original dealer as it expedites verification of original ownership. However, I doubt any friendly dealer would turn you down if you needed work done on your bow.
Based on personal experience, if a customer brought in a bow that needed warranty work done, such as possibly replacing the limbs I know the local shop doesn't charge for the labor. I would think that would be part of the benefit of buying a pro shop only style bow. However, I can see, and have heard, of some shops charging for the labor.
As for buying bows with/without warranty cards...all of the bows have serial numbers on them so Bowtech knows which shops originally received the bows. I am not sure exactly how it is done now especially with the online registrations that many companies utilize but I know in the past many manufacturers required you to submit a copy of the receipt with the warranty card during the registration process.
Maybe Matt or Pat can answer this question better than I.