Snowshoes worn backwards...?!!

[Cap'n Redneck]

https://www.bidsquare.com/online-auctions/coeur-dalene/paul-calle-1928-2010-the-snow-hunter-1986-3000791

I'm puzzled by this painting:

Did some people actually wear their snowshoes backwards, or did the painter get his facts wrong?

I've grown up around skies and snowshoes, and it has never occurred to me to wear either backwards...

[Abilene]

I think I saw it in a movie where someone was trying to throw off his pursuer.  That's the best I can do.   

[Coal Creek Griff]

They don't look backwards to me. That's a traditional design.  See this link:. https://www.canadianoutdoorequipment.com/traditional-ojibwe-snowshoes-gv.html?region_id=111555&currency=USD&sku=SS-GV-11x54&gclid=CjwKCAjww8mWBhABEiwAl6-2RSFTEnQCSugwrF2u3oW5GK-1ufTfwmC0ad606uqzo5RqqGiZAlDAIBoCxasQAvD_BwE

[Advertising]

[Cap'n Redneck]

Well, I stand corrected.
I've never seen the "Ojibwe-pattern" snowshoes before.

To me traditional or "Canadian" snowshoes have always been synonymous with what I now know to be the "Huron-pattern".

https://www.canadianoutdoorequipment.com/traditional-huron-snowshoes-made-in-canada.html

[Abilene]

me, too 

[Major 2]

I can relate  ... Greetings from the sand in shoes region 

[Russ T Chambers]

Major
Are those Seminole-pattern shoes 

[Tascosa Joe]

This was on the cover of Muzzleloader magazine a few years ago.  From my experience with them, they do not make a lot of historical errors.

[Davem]

Those 2 piece snowshoe frames. They seem to be more popular in Canada.  In the US it is either the Maine or Michigan plus a few bear paws.  On the Canadian 2 piece frame, the front is turned up a little higher than the Michigan or Maine style and it allows the wearer to sort of slide the shoe forward over the snow.  I personally think it is a very good design. For some reason a lot of the NDN's up there decorate the tips with pom poms.
The walking backwards- I think that was the Mad Trapper of , I can't recall. Charles Bronson played him in the movie.
The other thing is old fashioned logging skis.  I saw them a lot in Vermont many years ago. Long, maybe 8 to 10' and 4" wide.  Today's cross country skis. They require packed snow. In deep drifts they sort of turn over under your feet.