| Is the "gouge" a dent where the wood fibres have merely been compressed by impact, or has wood actually been removed?
If and to the extent that wood has been compressed, you should attempt to steam the dent out, after removing the original finish and before trying anything else. There are several ways to do this, but generally it involves pressing a damp cloth against the dent with a hot metal object such as an iron or heated spoon. A search is bound to throw up a number of threads covering this in detail.
Once the dent has been raised as far as possible using this method, further filling may not be needed. If it is, there are a variety of ways in which this can be done - again a search will throw up plenty of information. I'd steer clear of wood fillers though as in my experience they often sink and become visible through the new finish. If the dent (after steaming) is small, you could drop-fill with superglue and sand flat. For a larger dent a resin based car body filler could be used given that you're planning a solid colour.
Adrian | 
