  A new approach to investigations of ultra-high energy cosmic rays based on
the ground-level measurements of the spectra of local density of EAS muons at
various zenith angles is considered. Basic features of the local muon density
phenomenology are illustrated using a simple semi-analytical model. It is shown
that muon density spectra are sensitive to the spectrum slope, primary
composition, and to the features of hadronic interaction. New experimental data
on muon bundles at zenith angles from 30 degrees to horizon obtained with the
coordinate detector DECOR are compared with CORSIKA-based simulations. It is
found that measurements of muon density spectra in inclined EAS give
possibility to study characteristics of primary cosmic ray flux in a very wide
energy range from 10^15 to 10^19 eV.
