Powduck,
The cost of getting to AK, tags, hotel, and food, was less expensive than the gear we bought. Booking early with the airlines made a huge difference. It cut the cost in half. We also used airlines miles so getting there was cheap. Tags were way more reasonable than the lower 48. I think alot depends on what kind of gear you've got or can borrow.
We had two "big ticket" items. One was raingear, which we willing to spend what we needed to on, the other was the cost of the float plane which we booked for our final destination. Those two items cost about the price of custom bow.