HttpWebRequest is throwing exception for 404

Question

Hello guys.

I've found that HttpWebRequest is throwing WebException for not existing resources. It seems to me very strange as HttpWebResponse has StatusCode property (NotFount item exist). Do you think it has any reasons for that or maybe it is just developers issue?

var req = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(someUrl);
using (HttpWebResponse response = (HttpWebResponse)req.GetResponse()) {
    if (response.StatusCode == HttpStatusCode.OK) { ...}
}