Logan Bird Top Gun Roper Again

* Canadian Rodeo News CFR Tie Down Roping Primer by Dianne Finstad

Logan Bird has retained his monopoly on the Season Leader award for the Tie-Down Roping in Canada.  It’s now three in a row, and his sixth overall.

“I don’t know what it is. I don’t like not being in first. When I look at the Canadian standings, I feel like I need to be in first – that’s my spot,” smiles the Nanton cowboy.

“I don’t know what the record is for Season Leader (titles), but I think it would be cool to win it ten times,” adds Bird.

2026 goes down in Bird’s books as his best regular season ever, finishing with $47,515, just shy of his $50,000 goal.

Every season has its different rhythms, and Bird got off to his hottest start ever, cashing in at Hanna, Olds and the Maple Leaf Circuit Finals, to have $10,000 in the bank before the season got really rolling. But then he hit a cold spell until after Ponoka, when he was able to right the ship and finish strong. Sure, there were a few runs he’d like back from June. But the most impressive stat from his year (and Bird does love his statistics!) is that he only missed catching one calf all year long.

“I probably threw at 54 calves, and caught 53 of them around the neck.”

Last year’s rodeo life lesson saw Bird learning to be a little more aggressive in his roping style. But this season, doing just a wrap and a hooey proved costly at times.

“I figure I had about $10,000 worth of calves get up, after five seconds! If it was a five second rule instead of six, I could’ve won a lot more,” says Bird, shaking his head.

Helping his odds is the five-time Canadian Tie-Down Rope Horse of the Year, the legendary Peso, who just seems to be getting better with age.

“When your horse never costs you, and you basically never miss, you give yourself a lot of opportunities.”

It was a good year on the trail for Bird, who was able to travel and enter with his roping wife, sister and even cousin on some trips for a real family rodeo experience.

Now, for the next challenge, as Bird approaches his eleventh CFR.

“Trying to finish it off. I’ve only got it finished off once so far. That’s the goal now,” says Bird. “Try to do the same as I did during the summer. Be consistent and not change anything, and try to get that second gold buckle. The last few years I’ve definitely won less at the CFR than I have during the regular season.”

Bird analyzes that he ropes best in the summer when he’s in the groove and rodeoing every day. So this fall, he headed south with Peso for the Harris brothers and Shane Hanchey to use, and kept entering himself to stay rodeo-sharp. While horse training is a big part of his work, he’s also backed off riding colts until after the CFR.

“At the end of the day it’s just about making good runs. The people who make good runs, win. Making the CFR is the easy part. Winning when you get there is harder than making it, I truly believe that.”

Bird comes in to his eleventh Canadian Finals with a $9500 edge over the #2 man, Denton Dunham, who’s making his CFR debut.

“The first time I won Canada, in 2017, was the only other time I had this big of a lead.”

Bird won’t be the only roper at the CFR riding Peso. 2022 Canadian Champion Ty Harris made it a part of his busy roping and podcast schedule to travel up from Texas and hit the required fifteen Canadian rodeos, finishing in Okotoks, where he needed to win some insurance dollars to hang on to his spot. He’ll be using Peso, and Bird is well aware those two could be ‘dangerous’ in Edmonton.

Defending Canadian champion Kyle Lucas, who also calls Texas home much of the year, will be in the hunt for back-to-back titles. Family connections are also evident, with brothers Shane and Jason Smith back in Edmonton, along with cousins Stran and Denton Dunam. The Dunham’s, with their Manitoba roots, and first-timer Shay Stewart of Carnduff, SK make for strong eastern representation in this year’s lineup. Coy Skocdopole, a second-generation roper from Big Valley, is another of the rookies. He had a dramatic season finish, sitting in 15^th before the Armstrong weekend, winning his pool and placing second in the finals to shoot all the way up to a qualifying spot.

The oldest of the rookies, and of this year’s entire CFR roping contingent, is Tyler Popescul, who turns 35 in December.

“I finally accomplished what I’ve been after for a while,” admits the Saskatchewan-raised looper and farrier, who first turned pro as a team roper in 2012. “It did come down to the end, and I’m just glad I pulled through.”

After a slow June, he ended up in an all too familiar predicament of being just in or just outside the top twelve.

“Coming down to Armstrong, I needed to win, and I think finally, mentally, I didn’t think about it too much, and just did my job. Lincoln was awesome and it all worked out.”

Popescul is the owner of the 2026 Tie-Down Roping Horse of the Year, (C My Lite) Lincoln, who is a cornerstone of his success.

“He’s awesome to have. His accolades are a lot longer than mine, put it that way,” chuckles Popescul, noting Lincoln has been at the CFR regularly since 2019. “For him to finally win Horse of the Year, it’s been a few years coming, for sure.”

Due to the horse’s popularity, Popescul found himself away from his Seven Persons home more this year, which he believes also helped get him to Edmonton.

“Just the consistent competition instead of being home practicing I think helped me. Butting heads with the guys down south, and winning a little bit, gives some confidence to come back up here.”

Experiencing the clutch performance Popescul did in Armstrong to secure his first qualification was another boost.

“I’m not going to have any pressure at the CFR. I’ve been butting heads with these guys for a long time. To win when I had to win – that was a lot more pressure there than I think there’s going to be in Edmonton.”

“Win or lose, you know it’s not the end of the world. I’ve been on the other side of it, a lot. To finally pull through, it feels pretty good actually.”

There were nearly two Popescul’s in the roping, but Tyler’s older brother Jesse wound up in the crying hole for both tie-down and team roping events.

“I think he’s been instructed he has to stay home and do the chores – so Mom and Dad can come up. Jesse had a nailbiter of a finish, and ended up $120 short.”

2026 CFR TIE-DOWN ROPING QUALIFIERS