RAW Image Editing Help

[supercelts7]

Having read about the advantages of shooting/editing in RAW, I've decided to give it a whirl but I haven't the slightest idea of where to start. I'll be using Olympus Studio Master for the RAW editing and that's as much as I know.

As you can see, I have underexposed this pic of a Red Deer to quite some degree. So what I'd like to know is; where to start with the editing process and what properties to change. Also, with regards to cropping the image; ideally, I would like to keep the dead tree as I think it adds depth but I'm not too bothered about the rest. What do you think?

Exif data is included as attachment. Thanks.

[sk66]

I would start with WB, then curves (highlight/shadows), then crop/patch, and finish with levels/ sharpening.