How do you tame a wild kitten?

I'm usually pretty good at taming cats, but this one seems to be challenging me. He is still a small kitten, but he's very fast! He's like a little black streak of lightning! I can't catch him. He did come up to me and sniff my leg the other day, so I know I'm making progress. Is there an easier way to do this?

Lisa, the best advice I can give you without writing a short novel (still in the process of finalizing the article I am writing about it ) is to read this thread: Socializing a Feral: The Story of Lucky It is a lllloooonnnngggg thread, but I think the culmination of advice from the site about socializing a wild cat/kitten is in there. It does take a while to read, but it is a fantastic thread - not only the information but the happy and wonderful progress that Sandi made with Lucky (who is now a spoiled rotten little love bug )

Is the kitten inside? Sort of sounds like you are trying to trap it?

No the kitten is outside. There is no way of trapping him out there. I am mainly trying to get him to come to me. He usually follows one of my other cats, Stinkie. So, I've been trying to get him to watch me petting Stinkie. That is when he came up to me and sniffed my leg. Stinkie was right there with me. I didn't reach down to pet him though. I don't want to move too fast for him. Do you think I'm on the right track?

First you have to establish to this kitten that it can trust you. To do that you go down on his level. You do not stand, you either sit or kneel on the ground, thus you become less of a threat. You feed this kitten every day several times a day at the same time in the same place with the same bowl. About a week of this, take an old teeshirt and do a massive workout in it get it horrendously sweaty. Leave this shirt outside in the place where you feed and put the bowl of food on top of it. That is the beginning for this kitten to understand "your" scent. At not time do you attempt to chase, or grab the kitten and you do not look it in the eyes. It is a patience game, and unless the weather is turning rough, you wait and let this kitten understand that you are safe.

georgiagirl8, you might want to spend a little time poking around in the Feral Colonies forum. There are lots of hints for trapping (we trapped an "untrappable" kitten ), for socializing ferals, etc.

Good luck!

Thanks to all of this good advice, the kitten, who I am now calling Jitterbug, will come to me. Although, he will only come to me if Stinkie (my baby) is with me. Still, that's progress. He will play with me too. I have still not pet him, because I am afraid I will scare him. I am working up to it though. I have tried what you all told me. It seems to be working great. I will have Jitterbug tamed in no time!