The first thing I'd like to mention is that a guide is not necessary for non-resident deer hunters in Alaska, so you can do a drop-off hunt on your own. "Nonresidents who hunt brown/grizzly bear, Dall sheep, or mountain goat must be personally accompanied in the field by an Alaska-licensed guide" is the official reading. Your expenses for hunting here would be non-resident license and tags, a commercial flight, and bush plane or boat charter, which are really pretty economical due to the number of operators available.
(I could go on about the planes available, since I'm an aviation enthusiast, but suffice to say that a float plane trip is pretty darn cool no matter what type you're flying.)
If you want to go with an outfitter, then Kodiak offers essentially two kinds of bases for hunters; staying at a lodge, or staying on a boat. Either one is not cheap by any means, even if you get a party together to book the entire place for yourselves for a week. On the other hand, they provide very comfortable accomodations (i.e. warm and dry with soft beds) and really good food (i.e. not freeze dried out of a bag), and often offer a full combo experience to include deer, sea ducks, fishing, and crabbing. (Kodiak and its surrounding islands are my favorite place to go as a resident hunter now living north of Anchorage. I've been there half a dozen times on drop-off hunts and taken deer, caribou, and Roosevelt elk on Afognak. There are a lot of bears here - I've seen or encountered them on every trip, but I've never had one get agressive or cause an issue.)
Southeast Alaska may be a more affordable option just because it would be easier for a non-resident to access, as "375 Fox" described. The entire panhandle area is known for good deer and black bear hunting as well as fishing. I started my Alaska residency in Ketchikan in 1992, but I haven't hunted there, nor have I ever hired a guide, so I can't speak to those specifics. Also, this year's regulations allow non-residents to take four bucks on Prince of Wales Island, whereas the limit at most other places is one.
Marine fishing charters everywhere around the Gulf of Alaska are usually booked as rockfish/salmon/halibut combos, and there are lots of them, so that would be easy to take advantage of no matter where you go. The August-September timeframe is late for spawning returns, but that's a moot point when fishing the salt, and the halibut are still around gobbling up the spawned out carcasses of salmon washing back out to sea. It's early fall hunting, so the weather is usually pretty nice (before the fall storms or cold and snow, although it's going to be rainy for sure).
The Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game (adfg) runs a fantastic website that is an absolute treasure chest of information for anyone wanting to know more about hunting and fishing in the state. I can still get lost in there for hours just looking over all the possibilities. Everything you would want to know about places, seasons, and animals will be found there. You might be interested in the drawing permits available for other species (like mountain goat or elk) that would expand your hunt.
The last thing I'd like to mention about Sitka deer is their vulnerability to winter die-off. Both Kodiak and Southeast Alaska typically have very temperate winters, but if they get hit with deep snow then that leads to mass starvation which can take several years to recover from. This is much less of a problem than it was 20 or 30 years ago, since Alaska winters have been trending less severe during that time in general, but it's something to keep in mind for planning purposes. Again, ADFG can often supply population surveys as well as hunter success rates.
I really hope you get to go, no matter how you do it. It's beautiful country with great hunting opportunity. Best of luck to you!
