Is tanning necessary if beaver are pickled with the ultimate acid for hooping. They turned a nice, natural light color. I’ve done a few acid only.

That is what I have done and so far they have lasted for years.

Problem is they will really shrink and if not neutralized they can acid rot and break down. By the time you've gotten to the pickle part, you've already done the most of the work except the breaking part. The tanning part is the easiest part to do.

I neutralized in baking soda water for 30 minutes after pickling. Don’t really mind if they stay stiff on the hoops. Just didn’t want hair to ever come out. Been real rainy here last few days and they seem to have come into case like raw fur. Hoping when I move them indoors they’ll stiffen up.

I think you still need to tan them. You don't need to break them if you don't mind them being stiff, but to my understanding, it's still basically a raw hide if you just pickle and neutralize.

The pickle is the process that actually digests the proteins that lock the skin's fibers together. The oils and other substances that come after pickling aid in make the leather soft. So, imo all that is necessary is to pickle and neutralize; this will actually give you a finished hooped beaver that will actually have the appearance of a raw, dried skin on a hoop; but preserved.

A pickled hide is just a raw hide.

If your skin is picking up moisture in humid weather then there are still chemicals(salts) left in the leather that will cause it to deteriorate over time.

Mmm, not really, you can break and soften a pickled hide. If pickled correctly, the pickle (acid component) should do about 90% of what's required to dress a skin.

You can also break and soften a rawhide-Native tanned hide is just that.

Though a pickled skin is not a tanned skin, it will still be “preserved” to some degree. Many home tan recipes are just a pickle, and some of those skins last for many years. As long as its just a wall hanging and you’re okay if it starts to break down some years down the road, I don’t think you’ll notice the difference.

A tanned skin is a tanned skin anything else is just skin.

As already said, that's not true. For decades there were thousands of taxidermists that did nothing but pickle their hides because that's how they were taught, and those mounts lasted for years and years. Is it as good as a tanned skin, no. But for a hoop to hang on the wall it will suffice.
But Sniperb is also correct that by the time you've pickled a hide, 90% of the work is done. There's no reason to not go ahead and tan it.

Ok, those of you that tan after the pickling, do you use McKenzie Tan, orange bottle, Johnny Thorpe or Dixietan paste? I think years ago when we stopped at roadside trading posts all the tanned fur smelled like sassafras. The McKenzie pickling may require McKenzie tan. I think the others are to be put on the raw skin.

You can use pretty much any tanning agent you want. Lutan F, liquatan, trubond, etc. Some tans are a bit more particular on the optimal pH for full absorption. Just check their directions.

I've used lutan, this last year I used paratan. I liked the lutan better but it was out of stock from vandykes when I ordered.