In this paper we introduce a nonparametric method for estimating the probability density function of detection distances in line transect sampling. The estimator is obtained using a frequency histogram density estimation method. The asymptotic properties of the proposed estimator are derived and compared with those of the kernel estimator under the assumption that the data collected satisfy the shoulder condition. We found that the asymptotic mean square error (AMSE) of the two estimators have about the same convergence rate. The formula for the optimal histogram bin width is derived which minimizes AMSE. Moreover, the performances of the corresponding k-nearest-neighbor estimators are studied through simulation techniques. In the absence of our knowledge whether the shoulder condition is valid or not a new semi-parametric model is suggested to fit the line transect data. The performances of the proposed two estimators are studied and compared with some existing nonparametric and semiparametric estimators using simulation techniques. The results demonstrate the superiority of the new estimators in most cases considered.