CAUTION DIDN'T AVERT ATTACK.

Byline: Peter Hartlaub and Jesse Hiestand Daily News Staff Writers

Ask Phil Carter, and he'll tell you he's a very cautious man.

But no amount of preparation could stop the vicious home-invasion robbery that unfolded early Friday night, when three masked robbers shot the scrappy 62-year-old in the face, pistol-whipped him and dragged him into his house.

``It really burned me that they got the jump on me,'' Carter said at his Encino home Saturday morning, where a trail of his dried blood still led from the driveway to his front door.

Thirteen years ago, Carter took over as owner of Red Barn Feed and Saddlery store, where he said a previous owner was killed in a robbery. Since then he's done everything possible to prevent crime.

``We have all sorts of security at the store,'' said Carter, wincing from a broken nose and several cuts that swelled his left eye shut. ``Unfortunately, this didn't happen at the store.''

The robbery occurred Friday night at about 6:30 p.m., he said, after he drove home from work - checking in his rear-view mirror to see if he was being tailed as he does every night.

But it wasn't a follow-home robbery, Carter is convinced.

Police say he was confronted in his driveway on the 5200 block of Louise Avenue by three men and was shot in the face after trying to take a gun away from one of the suspects.

Carter said he was dragged bleeding into his house, but instead of taking a few items and leaving, the suspects started pulling blinds shut and turning off lights.

Figuring they were going to ``settle in for the evening,'' Carter said he bolted for the door, pulling away from a suspect who kept grabbing at his clothes as he ran toward the street.

``I thought he was probably going to shoot me (if I ran), but I figured he'd shoot me for sure if I stayed in the house,'' Carter said.

Carter's wife, who was home at the time, was not injured, police said.

Neighbors called 911 after seeing Carter covered with blood and screaming.

``I heard a noise and opened the window and saw this guy just yelling, `Help me. Help me,' '' said 15-year-old neighbor Danny Michels. ``He came up to me and his face was all bloody, and he said he had been beaten. We tried to get him to come into the house, but he was disoriented and walking in the street.''

Many of the homes in the secluded, affluent neighborhood just north of Ventura Boulevard are set back from the street and gated. Michels said Carter walked a few houses down to a neighbor's where there was no gate.

That resident, who did not want to be identified, said, ``We were having dinner and someone started banging on the door.''

Because of pranksters who have knocked on their door in the past, the woman said she and her husband do not open it when they are not expecting someone.

``He started banging harder, so I naturally got frightened and we called 911,'' said the woman, after pointing to the bloodstains on her front porch.

After a while, she said, the banging receded into silence and police arrived about five minutes later. ``If I had known it was him, I would have opened the door,'' she said of the victim. ``When I found out it was him, I felt terrible.''

After Carter ran to get help, police said, the assailants left in a small blue compact car. ``This right here appears to be a robbery,'' LAPD Officer Mike Partain said. ``The victim was not kidnapped as he was in the Rawlings incident.''